ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The day felt like two days.
The 105th PGA Championship at Oak Hill was supposed to commence with 7 a.m. tee times off the first and 10th tees, but was delayed by 110 minutes because of frost on the grounds.
By day’s end — really, night’s end as play was suspended due to darkness at 8:31 p.m. — one of the unlikeliest players of all was atop the leaderboard, one shot clear of another unlikely contender.
Eric Cole, a journeyman who’s claim to fame is having won nearly 60 times on mini-tours but who’s seeking his first PGA Tour win, was through 14 holes of his first round at 5-under when play was suspended and one shot clear of Bryson DeChambeau, who shot a 4-under 66.
Dustin Johnson, who bogeyed his final hole rushing to complete his round before dark, is 3-under, along with Scottie Scheffler and Corey Conners.
“It was a good day — 5-under through the holes that I played was good,’’ Cole said. “Whenever you play, you want to compete to win. That’s the spot I like to see my name at [on top of the leaderboard], and hopefully it is there more often.’’
Eric Cole, who is 5-under-par through 14 holes, is the leader after Day 1 of the PGA Championship.AP Before Cole’s afternoon charge, the day was very much about DeChambeau, who’s disappeared from contention since he joined LIV Golf.
DeChambeau, who was among the players in the morning wave of tee times, called his day “a fantastic round of golf at Oak Hill, it’s a prestigious place, a very difficult golf course.’’
“As I was looking at it throughout the week, I’m like, ‘Man, I don’t know how shooting under par is even possible out here on some of the golf holes.’ But luckily, I was able to play some really good golf, hit a lot of fairways, did my job and made some putts.’’
So, too, did Scheffler, who simply has become a fixture at the top of leaderboards, which is a good reason why he’s ranked No. 2 in the world. He played his round without making a single bogey, which seemed impossible to the players who grinded around the course in the practice rounds this week,
Asked what he liked best about his round, Scheffler said, “Definitely no bogeys.’’
“Today was probably the easiest conditions we’ll see all week with the golf course, so getting around with no bogeys was really good,’’ he said. “There’s not really many birdie opportunities out there, so, if you can limit the mistakes, good things will happen, I guess. This place is pretty tough. I came into today’s round just trying to play solid golf. I kept the course in front of me for the most part and hit some really good tee shots on the important holes. Then I had some nice saves as well.’’
Bryson DeChambeau, who is 4-under-par, fist bumps fans during the first round of the PGA Championship.USA TODAY Sports via Reuters ConIndeed, Scheffler missed seven of the 18 greens and got-up-and-down for par saves all seven times.
“It’s just one of those places where you hit one shot maybe barely offline, and sometimes you can hit a good shot and end up in a place where it’s pretty penalizing,’’ he said. “There’s lots of tough holes out there. I’m just going to go out there and keep trying to hit good shots.’’
He did, and so did Bradley, the 2011 PGA Championship winner, who played alongside DeChambeau. Bradley had seven birdies in his round, which was stalled for a while by a double bogey on the par-3 15th hole and a bogey to close on No. 9.
Scottie Scheffler, who is 3-under-par after the first round, gives a surprised reaction after just missing a put on the ninth hole in the first round of the PGA Championship.USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con“You know, 2-under par is a great score,’’ he said. “I would have loved for it to be four [under], but that’s just the way this is. We’re basically playing a U.S. Open out there, so you’re going to make bogeys.’’
Bradley said his PGA win in 2011 “seems like a lifetime ago for me,’’ adding, “I had not met my wife yet. I obviously didn’t have any kids. When I watch back highlights of it, my palms get sweaty, like I start to get nervous like something bad is going to happen even though I know it’s over.
“I don’t know what has gone on this week, but it’s almost sunk in more that I’ve won this tournament. Going to the Champions Dinner [Tuesday night], and when they announced me on the first tee today as the 2011 champion, I got a little lump in my throat. I haven’t felt that, really.’’
How Bradley felt after his round Thursday was very much how everyone around Oak Hill felt following a long day.
“I’m so glad to be done,’’ he said. “I’m just fried.’’
