PGA Championship Round 1: Scottie Scheffler Heads a Seven-Way Logjam as Aronimink Shows Its Teeth

Aronimink did not hand out a leader on Thursday. It handed out a crowd.

Seven players shared the top of the board at 3-under 67 after the opening round of the 108th PGA Championship in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania: Scottie Scheffler, Martin Kaymer, Aldrich Potgieter, Stephan Jaeger, Min Woo Lee, Ryo Hisatsune and Alex Smalley. It is the biggest first-round logjam at this championship since nine players tied at the 1969 PGA, per the AP. Patrick Reed, Xander Schauffele, Shane Lowry, Corey Conners, Sahith Theegala, Max Greyserman and Daniel Brown sat one back at 68, and 48 players finished within three shots of the lead.

A Donald Ross Original Bites Back

The scores tell the story of the day. Three under was the best number anyone could post, and that still made it the best opening score to par at a PGA since 2008 at Oakland Hills. A chilly morning, overnight rain that dampened the course without really softening it, then a stiff wind once the clouds cleared. Add thick, wet rough and greens full of slopes and knobs, and Aronimink, hosting its first major since Gary Player won here in 1962, played like a championship venue that had been waiting six decades to prove a point.

Jon Rahm summed up the mood when asked whether people expected lower scoring. "Have you been out there? Have you seen this course?" Rahm said.

Patrick Reed managed the rarest feat of all. His 68 was the only bogey-free card in the field, built on just two birdies and a lot of patience.

Scheffler Finally Starts Fast

The defending champion has had a strange relationship with Thursdays this season, and this one broke the pattern. Scheffler rolled in a birdie from just inside 40 feet on the par-4 seventh and another from just inside 30 feet on the par-4 10th, missed only one fairway all afternoon, and saved par at the par-3 17th after taking free relief from a sprinkler cap.

"Definitely the best start I've gotten off to this year, maybe besides American Express," Scheffler said, per the AP.

It was the 13th major round in which Scheffler held at least a share of the lead, and the first time that has happened after 18 holes. Still, the world No. 1 was not getting ahead of himself. "At this moment, it's anybody's tournament," he said.

The Unlikely Company

Look at who is standing next to Scheffler. Kaymer, the 2010 PGA champion who plays on LIV Golf, came in ranked No. 1,160 in the world and had not been in the top 10 after a major opening round since the 2020 PGA. He made it clear the trip was not a vacation. "I'm not flying from Europe to here to have a New York strip with you guys, you know?" Kaymer said.

Potgieter, the longest hitter on the PGA TOUR, set the early target from the first group off the 10th tee with six birdies. Hisatsune made seven birdies, four of them on the hole right after a bogey, which is either resilience or chaos depending on how you look at it. Jaeger strung together three straight birdies on the front nine. Smalley, playing just his fifth major, and Lee rounded out a leader group that has more questions than major trophies.

Spieth Teases, Rahm Scrambles

Jordan Spieth, chasing the career Grand Slam in his 10th try at this championship, was tied for the lead late in his morning round before bogeying two of his last three holes. A 69 still left him two back.

"Just didn't quite finish the way I wanted to the last three holes, but under par was a good score," Spieth said.

Rahm got to 69 in the most Rahm way possible. He holed out for eagle from the 11th fairway, chipped in for birdie on the par-3 eighth and birdied his final hole. Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Jason Day and Cameron Smith were also among the 19 players at 1-under 69.

Garrick Higgo might own the most painful 69 of the day. Higgo was hit with a two-stroke penalty for arriving at the tee 10 seconds late for his starting time. Without it, Higgo would have been the eighth co-leader.

A Rough Day for Two Stars

Rory McIlroy, the reigning Masters champion and the only man in the field with a shot at the calendar Grand Slam, had a miserable finish. McIlroy bogeyed his last four holes to post 74, struggled from the damp rough and on the greens, and spent much of the afternoon on the range. "Yeah, I'm just not driving the ball well enough," McIlroy said, per the PGA TOUR.

Bryson DeChambeau fared worse. DeChambeau did not make a birdie until the par-5 ninth and signed for 76, leaving work to do Friday just to avoid a second straight missed cut in a major.

Friday's Assignment

With 48 players inside three shots, Thursday settled almost nothing. What it did establish is the tone: Aronimink is going to make everyone earn it, and nobody is running away from this field on a course this demanding. For McIlroy, the job is to make the cut and claw back. For Scheffler and the six names alongside him, the job is to survive another day of wind, rough and those greens without giving back what they just banked.

For the stakes heading into the week, revisit our PGA Championship preview. Full scoring is on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and the TOUR's Round 1 recap (opens in a new tab) has more.

Sources: PGA TOUR (Round 1 recap, notebook and leaderboard), AP. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.