PGA Championship – Five things you missed from the first round

Xander Schauffele made history again, Scottie Scheffler did Scottie Scheffler things and Tiger Woods had a poor finish to his opening round.

But you already knew that, so here’s five things you might have missed from the opening round of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club.

Luke Donald’s scouting trip to Bethpage

European Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald revealed on his Instagram last week that he had paid a visit to Long Island to scout out Bethpage Black ahead of next year’s Ryder Cup at the venue.

The Englishman went into detail of what the trip entailed following a steady one under par 70 in Kentucky.

“I had a good trip last week to Bethpage,” said Donald.

“Came with Edoardo (Molinari) and a couple of the team, the back room staff, looking at team spaces, looking at beds, looking at the golf course, obviously where everything is going to be at the golf course, possible areas in the hotel.

“So just starting that planning process now. It's nice to have some time to kind of figure all that stuff out.”

Cameron Smith makes par from the water

Australians are well known for enjoying their time in the water with the abundance of picturesque beaches the country has to offer. But I don’t think Cameron Smith had a relaxing dip on his mind at the PGA Championship. The former Claret Jug winner had to take his socks off on the seventh after finding the water with his tee shot. But in true Aussie fashion, he jumped in and somehow saved par.

Rory McIlroy goes low

Rory McIlroy got off to an impressive start as he targets a first Major triumph since winning on this course in 2014 at the PGA Championship. The Northern Irishman opened up with a five under par 66 to finish the first round in a share of fifth and four strokes behind Xander Schauffele at the top of the leaderboard. This is McIlroy’s fifth opening round in the 60s in his last ten Major starts. In his 26 starts in Major Championship golf before that, he only mustered five first rounds in the 60s in 26 starts.

"I sort of felt like it was pretty scrappy for the most part," McIlroy of his opening round.

"I don't really feel like I left many out there. I thought I got a lot out of my game today. Some good up-and-downs, the chip-in on 6. I had a little bit of a scrappy part around the turn there, but overall ... not really happy with how I played but at least happy with the score."

What did McIlroy open with ten years ago at Valhalla I hear you ask? A 66. Maybe the stars are aligning after all.

Jon Rahm launches club

To say Jon Rahm’s opening round at the PGA Championship was up and down would be an understatement. The Spaniard, who struggled at last month’s Masters Tournament, got off to the worst possible start, carding four bogeys in his opening six holes to tumble down the leaderboard.

It looked like Rahm could explode at any moment, he did so a few times, launching his club in disgust on one occasion, but managed to grind it out and finish his round at one under par after carding six birdies from the seventh.

Block party over

After gaining a new legion of fans with his tied 15th finish at last year’s PGA Championship, the return of Michael Block to the year’s second Major was highly anticipated. Unfortunately for Block and his fans, his heroics at Oak Hill Country Club won’t be repeated after an opening five over par 76 left him in a tie for 146th. The American managed three birdies but cancelled them out with four bogeys and a quadruple bogey.