Tour Confidential Daily: What was the biggest surprise on Day 1 at Kiawah Island?
Phil Mickelson's back nine pushed him to just three back after 18 holes.
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Check in each day of this week’s PGA Championship for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topic in the tournament, and join the conversation by tweeting us @golf_com.
The first round of the PGA Championship is complete, with Canadian Corey Conners atop the leaderboard. The day played out like many expected, with the course playing difficult and the wind whipping up and down the coast. But there was still plenty surprise Thursday at the Ocean Course. What was the biggest surprise from the first 18 holes?
Sean Zak, senior editor (@sean_zak): Phil Mickelson turning his day around was damn impressive and surprising. He was three over through six and doing exactly what we expected. Then he made five birdies on his last 12 holes and made Kiawah look easy. How the hell does he do that again tomorrow?
Zephyr Melton, assistant editor (@zephyrmelton): Brooks Koepka’s blazing start comes as a surprise to me. Yes, he “always shows up in majors,” but considering the state of his health of late, contending after day one is shocking. All we’ve seen over his last two starts is a guy who looks nowhere near 100 percent. Even with an opening double, Koepka got it done Thursday. Respect.
Jessica Marksbury, multimedia editor: For me, it’s Rory. I mean, the stars really seemed to be aligning for him leading up to this week, and for him to open the way he did, with a six-bogey 75, is deflating. Is it insurmountable? No way. In fact, it would be very like Rory to kick into high gear from here on in for a comfortable, back-door top 10. I just want to see him back in the mix on a major Sunday!
Josh Sens, senior writer (@joshsens): Like Rory, Justin Thomas didn’t shoot himself out of this. But his scruffy-looking 75 was an off-brand performance for a guy who usually strikes it so pure. Also like Rory, it would not be surprising at all for him to flip the script tomorrow.
Luke Kerr-Dineen, Game Improvement Editor (@lukekerrdineen): Kiawah’s 381-yard par-4 3rd, which showed its teeth on Thursday. Bryson made a bogey from the middle of the fairway. Hideki made a double from just off it. Morikawa almost did, too, but managed to salvage a bogey of his own with a good up-and-down. With so much hype about the length of the course heading into the contest, I wasn’t expecting the shortest par-4 on the course to double as the fifth most difficult. The 3rd was supposed to be a ‘gettable’ one for the players. But it just goes to show that on Pete Dye’s Ocean Course, there’s really no such thing.
We should have known the PGA Championship would start like this
Dylan Dethier, Senior Writer (@dylan_dethier): All these low scores. I suspected the PGA would shorten the course because of grousing from players (and fear of slow play). But the wind blew on Thursday and still 30 golfers shot under par. The greens seem quite puttable, the landing areas quite wide and, most importantly, the players seem quite good. I hope Kiawah gets even tougher tomorrow.
Nick Piastowski, senior editor (@nickpia): Phil Mickelson, for sure. We’d counted him out before the tournament — he hadn’t finished inside the top 20 since last August. Shoot, we’d counted him out after nine holes — he shot two over on the “easier” stretch of holes. Then he just went out and shot a 32 on the “hard” nine and is in contention. Surprising!
James Colgan, assistant editor (@jamescolgan26): Dylan tells me a Michelob Ultra costs $16 at Kiawah, which is probably the biggest surprise of my year. As for the golf, Bryson’s utter exhaustion after a see-sawing opening-round 72 was eye-opening. This guy is used to BLOWING AWAY every golf course he sees. He works out a million times a week, and on Thursday, he had no answer for Kiawah.
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