Charlotte (AFP) – Matt Fitzpatrick and Luke Donald — each trying to become the first Englishman since 1919 to win the PGA Championship — grabbed a share of the early lead in Thursday’s first round at Quail Hollow. Donald, this year’s Europe Ryder Cup captain chasing his first major win at the age of 47, was on three-under alongside 2022 US Open winner Fitzpatrick and eight others among the early starters. Also in the hunt from England was Tommy Fleetwood, a back-nine starter who had shared the lead. Not since Jim Barnes took the first two in 1916 and 1919 has an English player been crowned PGA champion, and only four Europeans have ever won the title.
Donald struck the opening shot off the first tee for the field of 156 at the 7,626-yard, par-71 layout. He matched his best major finish with a share of third in the 2006 PGA Championship, sinking a four-foot birdie putt at the par-three fourth hole, a five-footer to birdie the par-four eighth, and rolling in an 18-foot birdie putt at the par-five 10th. Fitzpatrick, who also began off the 10th tee, sank a 36-foot birdie effort at 10 and dropped approaches inches from the hole to set up birdies at 14 and 15.
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Also on three-under were US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley, fellow American Max Greyserman, Dane Rasmus Hojgaard, Germany’s Stephan Jaeger, New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, Colombian Nico Echavarria, Spaniard David Puig, and Sweden’s Alex Noren. Fox, a back-nine starter, made birdie putts from just inside eight feet at the par-five 10th hole, from 30 feet at the par-three 13th, and just beyond four feet at the 14th.
Fleetwood birdied the par-three 13th from just inside 11 feet, sank a 16-foot birdie putt at 14, and dropped his approach at the par-five fifth just outside three feet to make his birdie putt, but stumbled with a bogey at the par-three 17th. Fleetwood, who took a silver medal at the Paris Olympics, has seven top-five major finishes without a victory, including runner-up efforts at the US and British Opens.
The world’s three top-ranked players — world number one Scottie Scheffler, Masters champion Rory McIlroy, and third-ranked defending champion Xander Schauffele — were making noise early after starting off the 10th tee in the feature group. Scheffler, coming off his first victory of the year two weeks ago, sank a 35-foot eagle putt from just off the green at the 15th to share second on two-under. He made bogey at 11 after finding left trees off the tee but sank a 20-foot birdie chip at 12 in response.
World number two McIlroy was one-under after a birdie-bogey start and a three-foot birdie putt at 15. Schauffele sank a five-foot birdie putt at the 10th but fell back with a bogey at 14. Northern Ireland’s McIlroy, who completed a career Grand Slam by capturing the Masters last month, has won four times at Quail Hollow. He snapped a major win drought dating to 2014 with his long-sought-after green jacket at Augusta National and has also won the Players and Pebble Beach titles this year.
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