PGA Championship 2012: Day 1 Leaderboard Updates, Highlights and More

Round 1 of play at the 2012 PGA Championship has come to an end. As always, some golfers head back to the clubhouse with their heads held high while others would prefer to get a full-round mulligan.

Carl Pettersson is the surprise leader at Kiawah Island at six-under par. He got off to a great start, birdying four of the first seven holes he played.

Gary Woodland, No. 142 on the PGA Tour money list, is tied for second at five-under. Based on his ranking and no top-10 finishes, it is safe to believe that he will slide in the coming days.

Rory McIlroy, Alexander Noren and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano are tied with Woodland for the second spot. McIlroy, who is trying to capitalize on a fifth-place finish at the Bridgestone Invitational, scattered around five birdies on the day.

Everybody's favorite golfer, John Daly, is tied with seven others at four-under. He should thanks his pants for the good luck.

Defending champion Keegan Bradley is one golfer tied for sixth with Daly. He posted five birdies over the first 11 holes, but bogeyed three of his last seven.

Aaron Baddeley, Adam Scott, Geoff Ogilvy and Graeme McDowell also find themselves in the six spot.

Tiger Woods got off to a solid start, finishing his opening round at three-under, tied for 15th place with nine others.

Top 10 Leaderboard

Place	Player	To Par
1	Carl Pettersson	-6
T2	Gary Woodland	-5
T2	Rory McIlroy	-5
T2	Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano	-5
T2	Alexander Noren	-5
T6	John Daly	-4
T6	Geoff Ogilvy	-4
T6	Keegan Bradley	-4
T6	Aaron Baddeley	-4
T6	Adam Scott	-4
T6	Three others tied	-4

Here is a link to the full leaderboard.

Friday's Prediction

I'll go out on a limb here and predict that the leader after Friday's round will not be named Carl Pettersson. Bradley should take a bit of a tumble too, as he didn't finish the round on a good note.

Woods started on the 10th and had a rough first few holes. After sandwiching two bogeys between a pair of birdies during the 12-15 stretch, he sank five birdies and bogeyed just one hole for the rest of the day. He's not going to shoot up the leaderboard on Friday, but a steady climb wouldn't be surprising.

McIlroy will continue to play good golf in Round 2. I'm going with Louis Oosthuizen as my dark-horse candidate to rise because he birdied five of his last nine holes.