The PGA Championship 2013: Updated Reaction to End-of-Day 1 Leaderboard

Day 1 from Oak Hill Country Club is now complete.

If you didn’t get a chance to tune in on Thursday, you missed a lot of great golf from several of the top players in the world. Jim Furyk and Adam Scott are the co-leaders at the 2013 PGA Championship after they each were five under par in their opening rounds.

Jim Furyk was the leader in the clubhouse for quite a while after he turned in his scorecard. His day began at 8:45 a.m. ET on the back nine of the course, and he got off to a fine start. The veteran birdied the 10th hole and then cruised through the bulk of the back nine to make the turn at three-under.

Furyk made a nice transition to the front nine, birdieing the first hole and then making birdie on the fourth as well. He got to six under par with a birdie on the seventh hole but couldn’t finish strong; he bogeyed the ninth hole to end his opening round at five under.

Scott, who stepped into the first tee box several hours after Furyk’s round commenced, got out to a remarkable start. He made par on the first three holes and then registered five consecutive birdies to tie Furyk for the lead after just eight holes. The official Twitter account for the championship made that clear:

The reigning Masters champion played well after making the turn, making par on the first four holes on the back nine. He birdied the par-four 14th to get to six under on the day, but he failed to stay at six under after he bogeyed the 16th. It was still an impressive round from Scott to say the least.

Here are some other thoughts from the first round of the PGA Championship.

Hearn, Westwood a Shot Back

David Hearn and Lee Westwood will enter the second round just a shot back of the co-leaders. Hearn failed to get off to a good start; he bogeyed the first hole he played. He got hot quickly from there, though. He went on to birdie three of the next five holes to get to two under—which stood as he made the turn.

Hearn was nearly flawless on the back nine. He birdied the 10th and 11th holes to really start making a statement. He made another birdie on No. 16 after four consecutive pars. The Canadian couldn’t end his day on a high note, though, as he bogeyed the 18th hole to turn in his scorecard at four under.

Hearn wasn’t even supposed to be playing in the PGA Championship this week, according to Kelly Tilghman of the Golf Channel:

Westwood couldn’t have been better on Thursday. His scorecard didn’t have anything worse than a par on it.

He started his round with a birdie on the opening hole and made two more on the front nine before making the turn at three under. He played just as well on the back nine but only made birdie once.

While four under may not seem like the biggest deal in the world, Justin Ray of ESPN points out the significance of Westwood’s round:

Westwood is one of the best golfers on the PGA Tour without a major victory on his resume. He’s finished in the top 10 of a major 16 times throughout his career, including an eighth-place finish at the Masters and a third-place finish at the Open Championship earlier this year.

Big Names Still in the Hunt

Tiger Woods entered the PGA Championship as the odds-on favorite to win the title. He's won it four times in the past, along with 14 total career majors. He put in a dominant performance at the Bridgestone Invitational.

The world’s top-ranked golfer started off in good shape. But he had several ugly shots throughout the round.

After making his way through the back nine at two-under, it looked as if Tiger was going to make a run toward the top of the leaderboard. But he had a few difficult shots on the front nine that didn’t go too well, and he ended his round at one-over.

He still has the potential to make up some ground on Friday.

Phil Mickelson, the winner of the Open Championship, wasn’t much better. He was horrible to start the day, bogeying the par-three third and then double-bogeying the par-five fourth. He turned things around toward the middle of his round, birding four holes over a six-hole stretch.

He couldn’t end his day on a high note, though.

Lefty entered the final hole at Oak Hill just needing a par to stay under par. But he didn’t play the hole the way he intended to and shot a six on the par-four 18th. He’s capable of playing better in the second round, but he really needs to focus on his consistency. He was all over the place on Thursday.

  

All statistics in this article were obtained via PGATour.com unless otherwise noted.