PGA Championship: Scottie Scheffler takes early lead as Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau battle at Aronimink Golf Club | golf news

Defending champion Scotty Scheffler grabbed a share of the early PGA Championship lead as Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau got off to a nightmare start at Aronimink Golf Club.

Scheffler, runner-up in his last three global starts and chasing a fifth major win in as many seasons, posted four birdies in six holes en route to an opening-round 67.

Aldrich Potgieter, Stefan Jaeger, Min Woo Lee, Ryo Hisatsune, Alex Smalley and former champion Martin Kaymer are also at three under.

Seven other players, including 2024 champion Xander Schaffel, Patrick Reed, Shane Lowry and England’s Daniel Brown, sit one shot behind, while Jordan Spieth is just two off in pursuit of the elusive major he needs to complete the career Grand Slam.

Jon Rahm is one under and two out of the 33-player lead with Spieth. McIlroy’s bid for back-to-back major titles His opening round was derailed with a 74 and a four-bogey finish DeChambeau struggled to 76 from a six over.

Scheffler got off to an inauspicious start in the title defense

Scheffler was among the next starters on day one, 12 months after his five-shot victory at Quail Hollow Club, with the 29-year-old getting off to a slow start when he bogeyed the fourth round.

He responded with a birdie at the sixth and nailed a 40-footer on the next, before scrambling for one at the eighth and opening his back nine with consecutive birdies to join the logjam at three under.

Scheffler canceled out a long-range three-putt bogey on the par-five 16th 14th, with his impressive showing – missing just one fairway – and powerful putt to propel him into his first opening-round co-lead of his major career.

“I’ve had the best start this year besides American Express, of course,” Scheffler admitted. “It’s a really tight leaderboard. At this point, it’s anybody’s tournament. It’s nice to get off to a good start.”

Lowry chipped in his first-round 68 for eagle on the par-five ninth, Reid also one back after a bogey-free start to his bid for a second major title while Sahith Thigala, Max Grazerman, Corey Connors and Schaffel completed the group one back.

Starting the fightback with a hole-out eagle from the second fairway, Rahm posted a birdie-birdie finish in his one-under 69 – his 11th hole, as Spieth and Justin Thomas both fell behind in the contingent at tied-15th after two late bogeys.

McIlroy and DeChambeau have work to do

Masters champion McIlroy described his opening round as s***, getting off to a tough start to his bid for a seventh major title with a ‘wayward’ drive over his closing hole on the opening morning.

McIlroy was even par through four holes in his round – holing a 30-foot birdie at the fifth – but then bogeyed each of his last four holes, with McIlroy struggling both off the tee and with his putter, putting him in danger of an early exit.

“I just wasn’t driving the ball well enough,” McIlroy admitted. “It’s been a problem all year for the most part. I’d miss it right, and then I’d try to correct it. And then I’d overdo it, and I’d miss it left.

“It goes back and forth a little bit. So it’s pretty frustrating, especially when I pride myself on running the ball well. I just have to try to figure it out. I honestly thought I could figure it out.”

DeChambeau has been runner-up at the PGA Championship for two years but is in danger of missing the cut for a second consecutive major, after an erratic showing left him tied for 135th and nine strokes off the mark.

The two-time US Open champion – starting on the back nine – bogeyed two of his opening four holes and fell further behind with a series of dropped shots from the 17th, before a run of pars ended when he failed to get above the seventh green.

The round unraveled further at the par-three eighth, where two misjudged chips forced him to hole out from 10 feet to scratch out a double-bogey, before his only birdie of a frustrating day came at the par-five ninth.

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