After a near two-hour frost delay before play could even begin, the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club finally got underway Thursday in Rochester, New York. Numerous major champions like world No. 1 Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka came into the week's festivities riding a wave of form, but it was an unexpected one in Bryson DeChambeau, who rose to the top of the leaderboard. Eric Cole commands the lead on the golf course at 5 under and will need to finish his first round as play was suspended due to darkness, though DeChambeau is alone with the clubhouse lead one shot behind Cole.
Signing for a 4-under 66, DeChambeau clipped the field by a single stroke as he utilized a well-rounded approach. His 66 marks his best opening round in a major championship -- tying that from the 2019 Masters -- and it may have marked a return to relevance in the world of golf for the 2020 U.S. Open champion.
Battling obstacles both on and off the course, the newly transformed DeChambeau (yet again) led the field in strokes gained tee to green and strokes gained off the tee signaling to his counterparts he is here to stay.
While his play since his transition to LIV Golf has left plenty to be desired, DeChambeau left breadcrumbs of this revival. He is coming off a personal-best seventh-place finish at LIV Golf Tulsa. His lone major title came at Winged Foot -- another long, difficult par 70 in the state of New York -- and he is just two majors removed from finishing inside the top 10 at The Open at St. Andrews.
The pieces of the puzzle were there, but for DeChambeau to connect them together is nevertheless impressive. The 29-year-old will take the lead into the second day of the 2023 PGA Championship with play being suspended due to darkness and the first round still needing to be completed Friday morning.
Here is the breakdown of the leaderboard following the first day at the 2023 PGA Championship.
1. Eric Cole (-5): The former mini tour legend first came onto the scene when he fell in a playoff at the 2023 Honda Classic and caught fire while temperatures were cooling. Cole carded three straight birdies on his second nine to push his name ahead of the rest and will look to put the finishing touches on a stellar round Friday morning.
2. Bryson DeChambeau (-4): Golf is better when DeChambeau is in the mix, whether it is hitting bombs or discussing his diet. His success at Winged Foot was an indicator for the same at Oak Hill, but let's not forget how he got the job done in 2020. The driver made all the noise, but he was exquisite on approach and lethal with the putter in hand. DeChambeau was exactly that on Thursday as he ranked top 10 in both. You combine all of this with his major championship pedigree and mental fortitude, and DeChambeau should continue to be relevant over the next 54 holes.
"The emotions have definitely fluctuated pretty high and pretty low, thinking I have something, and it fails and going back and forth," said DeChambeau. "It's humbling. Golf, and life, always has a good way of kicking you on your you know what when you are on your high horse. It's nice to feel this today."
T3. Scottie Scheffler, Corey Conners, Dustin Johnson (-3): The world No. 2 came into the week as a co-favorite and played as such in Round 1. Carding the only bogey-free round of the morning -- and the first of his 51-round major championship career -- Scheffler tee-to-greened Oak Hill into submission. He's been doing that to every golf course for the past 15 months, but more importantly, he was able to find some feel on the greens. For the most part, whenever Scheffler posts positive strokes gained on the greens, he ultimately finds a way onto the podium by week's end. I wouldn't bet against that happening again.
Meanwhile, Johnson threatened the lead late before his first and only blemish of the round on the 18th hole. The two-time major champion manufactured his round in an uncharacteristic fashion as he led the field in strokes gained putting and ranked top five in strokes gained around the green. His driving was sound, but the reliable ball-striking that he has made a career from wasn't quite there Thursday. Should it return, Johnson will continue to be a presence on this leaderboard as he has been the last decade at major championships. He is coming off a victory at LIV Golf Tulsa and held the lead at one point over the weekend just two majors ago at The Open last summer.
T6. Viktor Hovland, Ryan Fox, Keegan Bradley, Adam Scott (-2): Another major championship and another Hovland sighting. Since joining the final pair in the last round of The Open at St. Andrews, Hovland has continued to remain relevant on golf's biggest stage. He came to the PGA Championship with finishes of T4 and T7 in his last two major appearances and looks keen on continuing such a streak. There's a lot to like about Hovland's statistical profile from the first round as he led the field in strokes gained approach yet ranked outside the top 100 in strokes gained off the tee. The big stick has been his strength throughout his career so expect that club to cooperate moving forward.
T10. Justin Rose, Hayden Buckley, Sepp Straka, Thomas Pieters and six others (-1)
T20. Kurt Kitayama, Harold Varner III and five others (E)
T27. Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala, Max Homa, Phil Mickelson and 10 others (+1): McIlroy was the big question mark coming into the week, and he remains that way after 18 holes of play. It was a horrendous start for the world No. 3 as he turned in 3 over and looks destined for another early exit from a big-time tournament. Instead, an unlikely par save on No. 2 propelled him to three birdies in his final seven holes to remain within arm's reach of the leader. McIlroy hit only 2 of 14 fairways and ranked outside the top 125 with the putter. On the bright side, he ranked inside the top 10 in strokes gained approach and around the green. The rest of his tournament could go either way.
"Just not at my best," said McIlroy. "I'm just struggling with my swing. Yeah, it's pretty messy out there, so just trying to make pars. I guess it was tough as well. There was a lot of crosswinds off tees, so it made it hard to hit fairways. Yeah, no, I can definitely hit it better than that."
T42. Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Cameron Smith, Rickie Fowler, Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele and 15 others (+2): Koepka had a front-row seat to the Scheffler show and did well to not play himself out of this tournament. The four-time major champion struggled mightily with his irons (ranking 140th in approach) and leaned on a massive effort around the green to just hang around. Koepka has been the best at just hanging around in major championships since 2017, and despite the slow start, his name is still lurking. If he wants to do more than lurk, Koepka will need to harness the ball striking that carried him to contention at the Masters.
"I hit it, that was the worst I've hit it in a long time," said Koepka. "Scrambled really well. Missed a couple putts early but scrambled really well late. Yeah, that was the worst I've hit it in a really long time."
T63. Jordan Spieth, Shane Lowry, Tom Kim and 10 others (+3): The man with a chance to win the career grand slam finds himself a touchdown and a field goal behind. Still, not all is lost. Spieth ranked inside the top 25 in strokes gained tee to green only to be let down by the putter. Oak Hill shouldn't fit his eye on paper as accuracy off the tee is one of his weak points, but Bethpage Black shouldn't have been up his alley in 2019, and he finished third there. He's not quite out of this tournament; however, if things go sideways early in the second round, it will be a steep mountain to climb.
T76. Joaquin Niemann, Cameron Young, Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay and 19 others (+4)
T99. Kevin Kisner, Denny McCarthy and 16 others (+5)
T117. Jon Rahm, Matt Fitzpatrick, Jason Day, Abraham Ancer and 12 others (+6): Rahm started the Masters with a double bogey and went onto win. He started the PGA Championship and went onto sign for a 6-over 76 -- his worst round on the PGA Tour relative to par -- as his approach play and putter betrayed him. He finds himself a full 10 strokes off the lead, but I am not completely sure he is out of this tournament. With the conditions only more getting more difficult, Rahm may thrive over the final 54 holes. The first goal will be to make it into the weekend. From there anything can happen as we saw last year at Southern Hills.
That is three straight birdies for the former mini tour legend. He is 5 under with five holes to play in his first round in his PGA Championship debut. Cole was memorably in the playoff at the Honda Classic where he fell to Chris Kirk.
Big Tone turned in 6 over and looked all sorts of lost. He is now 2 over after a long birdie connection on the par-3 15th. That's four birdies in his first six holes of the back nine as he seeks to finish up his first round. The sunset is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET in Rochester.
This has been as laidback of a round as Dustin Johnson's personality. The two-time major champion is now 4 under through 13 holes and has joined Bryson DeChambeau at the top. He's bogey-free thus far — something only Scottie Scheffler has accomplished today — and has eyes on surpassing the Big Golfer.
It is unlikely the entire field wraps up Round 1 as the dark will engulf Oak Hill in the next 1 hour and 30 minutes. That might not be great news for someone like Dustin Johnson who is 2 under thru 11 and has eyes on adding to his total. He will want to race to the finish and wrap this bad boy up just like Adam Scott at 3 under and one ahead.
The big Austrian has gotten to 3 under with a birdie on the par-5 4th. Straka has won on the PGA Tour, nearly won in the FedEx Cup Playoffs last year, but this is a mild surprise. Straka hasn't finished inside the top 20 since the Honda Classic in February.
Despite the difficulties, there are a number of players in red figures. Dustin Johnson is about to turn in 1 under as is Sam Burns. Former Masters champion Adam Scott is 2 under and looks to post a number in the 60s as he has done in nine of his last 12 rounds.
Dustin Johnson has reached 1 under with a birdie on seven while Patrick Cantlay is even par in the middle of the fairway. Rickie Fowler after a pair of bogeys in his first four holes as clawed back to 1 over. Through six holes, Fowler has four lip outs…he easily could be in red figures.
