Dechambeau 4 Under Par 2nd Place... 'LIV Golf Takes Early Lead'

Second Major PGA Championship of the Season Round 1
Ko leads, Johnson, Scheffler, and Kwon share 3rd place
McIlroy and Mickelson tied 27th, Kim Juhyung 63rd

LIV Golf takes the early lead.

‘Hulk’ Bryson DeChambeau (USA), a member of LIV Golf, shot 4-under 66 in the first round of the season’s second major, the PGA Championship (total prize money $15 million), held on the 18th (local time) at Oak Hill Country Club (par 70, 7,394 yards) in Rochester, New York. He stands tied for second place. Eric Cole (USA) leads after 14 holes with 5-under. Due to bad weather followed by sunset, some players were unable to complete their rounds.

Bryson DeChambeau is teeing off on the 14th hole during the first round of the PGA Championship.
[Rochester, USA=AP·Yonhap News]

DeChambeau recorded six birdies and two bogeys. Starting at the 10th hole, he exchanged two birdies and two bogeys over eight holes without reducing his score. However, he changed the momentum with consecutive birdies on the 18th and 1st holes, then secured ‘stepping stone birdies’ on the 4th and 6th holes to dominate the top of the leaderboard. He relied on his long drives of up to 366 yards and a ‘pinpoint iron shot’ accuracy with a green hit rate of 83.33%. DeChambeau has won eight times on the PGA Tour, including one major. His last victory was at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March 2021.

LIV member Dustin Johnson (USA) also started strong with a 3-under 67, tied for third place. World No. 2 Scottie Scheffler (USA), the face of the PGA Tour, and Corey Conners (Canada) are also tied for third. World No. 3 Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) is tied for 27th place (1-over 71). Phil Mickelson (USA) is in the same group. Brooks Koepka (USA) is tied for 43rd (2-over 72), and World No. 1 Jon Rahm (Spain) is tied for 117th (6-over 76).

Korean players struggled somewhat. Kim Joo-hyung lost three strokes and holds the best position among them, tied for 63rd (3-over 73). Lee Kyung-hoon and Kim Si-woo are also in this group. 2009 champion Yang Yong-eun lost six strokes and is tied for 117th. Last week’s Korean Tour Woori Financial Championship winner Im Sung-jae had difficulty adjusting to the time difference and is tied for 151st (10-over 80), showing a poor performance.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.