On a cool and windy day at the PGA Championship, Canadian Corey Conners almost made it look easy at a difficult Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia. The 34-year-old opened with a two-under 68, placing him just one shot off the lead.
Strong Ball-Striking Key
Conners leaned on his trademark ball-striking, giving himself eight birdie putts from 15 feet or nearer and converting three of them against a single bogey. "I was hitting it really nice," he said. "I've definitely had good rounds, but that was a lot of really good shots."
After an unusually quiet season without a top-ten finish, Conners heads into Friday at the season's second major tied with seven players at three-under, including defending champion and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. "I feel like the consistency with my game hasn't been there," Conners admitted. "Either I hit it well and scored poorly, or hit it poorly and actually scored well. But I know things are close."
Putting Challenges
Conners led the field in strokes gained with approach shots but ranked 117th in putting. "It's tricky. There's a lot of slope out there. You really have to be very aware of your speed," he said. "I hit a few that had decent chances to go in. And a couple I'd like over."
Logjam at the Top
A major championship record saw 39 players within two strokes of the lead after one round. The thick rough, windy conditions, and undulating greens equalized the field. Co-leader Min Woo Lee noted, "The rough is pretty juicy... It's a course where you don't want to leave it in bad positions."
Lee and Scheffler are tied with Aldrich Potgieter, Stephan Jaeger, Ryo Hisatune, Martin Kaymer, and Alex Smalley. Jon Rahm, after birdieing his final two holes for a one-under 69, commented on the course's difficulty: "If you just go by some of the numbers, some of the fairways are wide... But a lot of those fairways are sloped in a way that they play very narrow."
Other Canadians
Canada's Nick Taylor finished tied with Rahm at one-under, while Taylor Pendrith shot a two-over 72 and rookie Sudarshan Yelamaraju shot a 75. Taylor noted the cool temperatures added difficulty: "A long day. It got really cold."
