PGA Championship Round 1 live updates: Xander Schauffele sets course record, grabs early 3-shot lead

Xander Schauffele wasted no time at Valhalla on May 16, 2024, Thursday morning. He went low to kick off the 106th PGA Championship. He posted a course-record 9-under 62 to grab an early three-shot lead over the field when he hit the clubhouse. His bogey-free round tied the lowest round in major championship history, something he has now done twice. He finished in second last week at the Wells Fargo Championship, which marked his eighth top-10 finish so far this season on the PGA Championship Tour.

Schauffele has not won a major championship yet in his career, but he is inside the top 20 at ever major but two since 2019. By all accounts, he is due. Though his early lead was impressive, it likely will not hold. There is still a lot of golf to be played on Thursday, let alone the rest of the week in Louisville. Tiger Woods stumbled to close out his round.

Woods made back-to-back bogeys in his final two holes and carded a 1-over 72 in the early wave. Rory McIlroy, on the other hand, made three birdies in his final five holes to get to 5-under, which has him right in the mix. Scoring has definitely gotten harder as the day has gone on. Only four of the top 19 players on the leaderboard are on the course.

Only one player in the top nine, Thomas Detry (-4), is still playing.

After a bogey at five stalled Scottie Scheffler’s round for a moment, he took advantage of the par-5 seventh, knocking in a four-footer for birdie to get back to 3-under. It has not been a good day for Jon Rahm. He has bogeyed four of his first six holes, including an absolute shank on No. 6. He missed the green by 40 yards to the left. He did birdie the seventh to slow the bleeding, but he has got a lot of work to do if he is going to get back in contention.

Some days, it is better than others. It is just the way it is. Woods clawed out a 1-over round to open the PGA Championship on Thursday. Scheffler just bogeyed the fifth after landing in a greenside bunker. That dropped him back to 2-under for the day. Matching Schauffele’s bogey-free round is now out of the question. He just birdied No. 4 to get to 3-under for the day.

The last time the PGA Championship was played at Valhalla, McIlroy won.

Scheffler birdies the fourth, taking him to 3-under after his first-hole eagle. He stood at the first tee nine strokes behind clubhouse leader Schauffele. Two swings later, Scheffler had sliced Schauffele’s lead to seven. Since McIlroy’s two major titles in 2014, however, he has come up short every single time. But he is back near the top of the leaderboard after his opening round 66 on Thursday in Louisville.

Scheffler was not going to let anybody forget about him. He just holed his second shot at the PGA Championship from the middle of the fairway to immediately get to 2-under, because of course he did. Bryson DeChambeau was toiling through his round, sitting at even par through 15 holes. That eagle at No. 7 started on the back nine put him at 2-under and into the hunt.

Schauffele is now the first person to ever shoot a 62 in a round at a major championship multiple times. Schauffele has set a course, PGA Championship and major (tied) record with a 9-under 62. Woods bogeyed his last two holes and is at +1. The morning tee times look to have the advantage as they got out before the course dried out. Schauffele posted a 9-under 62 to open the PGA Championship.

4 years ago, a star-studded moving day at the 2020 PGA Championship saw almost a handful of players connected for the lead at one point.

By the end of the day, there were 11 golf players within three strokes of the lead heading into Sunday’s last round at TPC Harding Park. The first major champion of 2020 has actually nearly ensured a must-see finish with Dustin Johnson holding the 54-hole lead at 9 under while Brooks Koepka, Jason Day, Bryson DeChambeau, and Tony Finau are amongst those still in striking distance. Naturally, established names are not the only ones in the mix as Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Champ, and Collin Morikawa are amongst those who would enjoy to kickstart their budding careers with a significant win on Sunday afternoon in San Francisco.

Saturday’s round was a homage to the obstacle that TPC Harding Park provides. Dustin Johnson, Scottie Scheffler, and Collin Morikawa soared to the top of the PGA Championship leaderboard by publishing 65s, but the late-afternoon groups were left grinding through foggy, windy conditions that made scoring tough. Of the last 4 pairings on the course just 2 gamers, Champ and Koepka, scored under par on Saturday.

A scoring machine today, Dustin Johnson has 17 birdies through three rounds. While Johnson’s 65 on Saturday tied for round of the day and his 8 birdies were the best in any significant round throughout his career, it might have been even better if not for a bogey on No. 6 and a double bogey on No. 9. Even through the putter let Johnson down on that double, he was lights out on the greens otherwise and now has a possibility to make another run at his very first PGA Championship after a runner-up surface a year back at Bethpage Black Course.

The novice Scottie Scheffler and rising star Cameron Champ represent the closest thing we have to a darkhorse in this heavyweight PGA Championship battle, as even Collin Morikawa has become an established name with his win after the layoff and the story of his made cuts streak.

Champ has the PGA Tour success to his name that might put him a cycle ahead in the maturation process, however Scheffler has not let his lack of experience as a professional effect his comfort at TPC Harding Park. The course fits Scheffler’s design, and after shooting a 66 on Thursday and a 65 on Saturday, he has got to be thought about a danger to crash the PGA Championship party on Sunday. There is absolutely nothing more enticing than seeing Brooks Koepka bounce back from three straight bogeys on the back 9 to birdie two of his last three holes and then state that his game was much better than what the score shows.

Self-confidence is at no short supply for the two-time defending champ as Koepka goes for a three-peat on Sunday, though it will take a little bit better play on approach shots to prevent the kind of setbacks that put him two shots back. Bryson DeChambeau was exceptional on Saturday with seven birdies, the last of which was a 95-footer to close out his round of 66. Haotong Li did not blow his chance to win the PGA Championship on Saturday, however the wayward drives and lack of back nine bogeys did make the proposition much harder after the 54-hole leader shot a 73 on Saturday.

A 67 or 68 is not out of the world of possibility, however Li will need the PGA Championship leaders to fall back for a chance to win. Of this group, the gamer most likely to post a 65 and obstacle for the PGA Championship title is most likely Xander Schauffele, thought what would mark a considerable enhancement after shooting even par on Friday and simply one-under on Saturday. At one point in the early part of the day, Justin Thomas was up inside the top 20 and just four strokes off the PGA Championship lead following a birdie train on the front 9.

Unfortunately, the No. 1 player on the planet ran out of steam and lost his put on the PGA Championship leaderboard with a couple of contention-costing bogeys down the stretch.

It appeared like Rory McIlroy may be all set to make some noise after two uninspiring rounds, but four bogeys on his last six holes kept the two-time PGA Championship winner from remaining in the mix heading into Sunday. McIlroy has actually been typical off the tee this week, below par for his standard, and that has kept him from scoring chances that are needed to equal the PGA Championship leaders. Thursday’s 68 by Tiger Woods developed a buzz and ultimately put him in position to make the weekend, but a second-straight round of 72 has left the him grinding out what is left of the tournament out of the spotlight.

On one hand, it is a success that Woods has actually worked his way around the course without too much concern for his health. The second round of the 2020 PGA Championship on Friday was a rollercoaster that left us with a major shakeup at the top of the leaderboard. Haotong Li took over the No. 1 spot in the standings with a wonderful 5-under 65, while Tommy Fleetwood jumped 46 spots on the leaderboard to T2 after publishing a week-best 6-under 64.

Tied with Fleetwood in 2nd is Brooks Koepka, Daniel Berger, Justin Rose, Jason Day, and Mike Lorenzo-Vera, all of whom sit at 6 under and 2 strokes off Li’s lead. However there are plenty of big-name golf players easily within striking distance of Li entering on Saturday. Haotong Li with a bogey-free round of 65 on Friday, rose 11 spots in the standings and took over as the leader getting in the weekend.

Haotong Li’s hot streak through two rounds is as shocking as it is unforeseeable, after he finished T75 last week at the St. Jude Invitational and missed the cut at the Memorial Tournament.

Possibly that is why Li spent at least four hours practicing after his round. Koepka fired a 2-under 68 going into the weekend and birdied his last hole to ensure he will do so with a pep in his step. Koepka’s 36 holes away from possibly ending up being the very first to three-peat at the very same significant since 1956 and initially to do so at the PGA Championship in almost a century.

Fleetwood’s 6-under 64 connected for the very best round of the week with Cameron Champ, both in Round 2, as he jumped 46 areas on the leaderboard. He drove it well Friday instead of Thursday, where he hit simply 50% of his fairways off the tee. He likewise tidied up nicely on the greens and thinks he drove it actually well. Cameron Champ, Paul Casey, and Brendon Todd following a 1-over 71, Champ connected Fleetwood with the very best round of the week Friday.

And Champ did it by squashing the ball off the tees averaging 330 lawns per drive, besting Bryson DeChambeau, while showing great control too. He carded just one bogey on the day and made the most of every par 5. He was not quite as long off the tees as he was Thursday, however he commanded control of his irons and discovered something with the putter, draining several long ones to work his way into weekend PGA Championship contention.

Schauffele was stable with 2 birdies and 2 bogeys for an even-par 70, however after a strong effort in Round 1, he missed out on a chance to push up the leaderboard.

And yet for a second straight day, Schauffele discovers himself easily in the mix with an even-par round of 70 keeping him in the hunt. DeChambeau undoubtedly has the firepower, however the control was not there today as he found himself off the beaten course after errant tee shots, requiring him to rush. On the 503-yard par 4, he got to the green in four and consequently three-putted, unraveling the development on his round and dropping him to even-par on the day.

DeChambeau birdied 16 and completed the round at 1 under, however swallowing a triple-bogey was a momentum-stopper for him that might keep him from contention if he does not have a substantial moving day. Tiger Woods barely makes the weekend cut after squeaking out an unstable 2-over par Friday round that had him hovering alarmingly close to the cut line. Woods’ putter saved him from catastrophe on Thursday but he lost strokes to the field with it in Round 2, narrowly missing several that might have reversed his fortunes and put him into the red.