LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Xander Schauffele capitalized on advantageous early-morning scoring conditions in the first round of the 106th PGA Championship on Thursday at Valhalla Golf Club.
On a rain-softened course, Schauffele shot a 9-under-par 62 to break both the PGA Championship and course records.
It was the second year in a row that he shot 62 in a major championship. Schauffele did it last year in the U.S. Open, the same day Rickie Fowler accomplished the feat.
But on this day, Schauffele had no challengers.
The 30-year-old Olympian finished just after 1 p.m. and had a three-stroke lead after the rest of the morning wave finished. That lead held up as the course played tougher in the afternoon.
“It’s a great start to a big tournament,” Schauffele said. “One I am obviously going to take. But it’s just Thursday.”
Tony Finau and Sahith Theegala both shot 6-under 65, while Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland — the 2014 PGA champion at Valhalla — and Robert MacIntyre of Scotland had 66s all coming in the morning round.
The low score in the afternoon was a 65 from Mark Hubbard, who birdied three of his last four holes and was one of the final players on the golf course. The afternoon 66s came from Collin Morikawa, Maverick McNealy, Tom Kim of South Korea, Tom Hoge and Thomas Detry of Belgium. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and defending champion Brooks Koepka were among six players to shoot 4-under 67.
Schauffele started on the back nine and sank five birdies en route to a 31 before making four more birdies on the front nine for another 31. The round tied the major championship record, a list that he was already part of after his 62 last year.
Schauffele — who was two shots up last weekend at the Wells Fargo Championship but ended up losing that event to McIlroy by five strokes — broke the old course mark of 63 set in the 2000 PGA by Jose Maria Olazabal. In fact, Olazabal had been the only player in the three previous PGAs to shoot better than a 65 at Valhalla.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Schauffele came into the PGA with the lowest all-time career first-round scoring average in major championship history for those who have appeared in at least 25 majors. He averaged 69.81.
On Thursday, he bettered that mark by a lot.
Schauffele birdied three of the last four holes on the front nine, including a 5-foot birdie putt at the par-5 18th hole.
“It wasn’t like a dream start,” he said. “Being 1 under through 3 probably would have been a good start for me anyways, and when you shoot something low, you kind of get lost in the process of what you’re doing versus thinking about how low you’re trying to shoot.”
Schauffele was 6 under when he reeled off three birdies in a four-hole stretch on the front nine, including a long two-putt at the par-5 seventh hole. He saved par at the par-3 eighth hole with a chip from the back of the green and two-putted for par at No. 9.
“I felt like out here, you’re just eyeing the fairway most times,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter if you fly a ball 325 yards. If it’s in the rough, it doesn’t do you any good. You’d rather be 300 yards in the middle of the fairway. But I think overall, just knowing that I can kind of get the ball out there pretty far without having to go at it all the time is a pretty good feeling.”
Kim, who had six birdies and a bogey, is only the second player to shoot 66 or better in the opening round of the PGA before his 22nd birthday, according to Elias Sports Bureau. He will turn 22 in June.
“More scar tissue definitely gets you a tougher player, and I’ve been playing really good golf,” Kim said. “Just haven’t really seemed to get things going, but to do this in a major championship shows me a lot more about myself and gives me more confidence.”
It only took two swings for Scheffler to make noise at the start of the afternoon wave. Scheffler lofted a 9-iron from 102 yards into the cup on one hop to eagle the par-4 and announce his presence with a bang.
Scheffler, who won four of his past five starts before taking time off as his wife gave birth to their first child, went on to card four birdies and two bogeys.
“Xander went out and played a great round this morning and I’m not really going to worry about trying to shoot 9 under,” Scheffler said. “I’m just going to go out and try to hit good shots and play my own game.”
The second round will begin on Friday at 7:15 a.m. Rain is in the forecast for most of the day.
–Jody Demling, Field Level Media
