Everything you need to know from day one at Oak Hill Country Club.
After frost delayed the start of play, Rose rode a roller coaster, Kim got down and dirty and Hovland’s shirt grabbed the attention in the first round of the 2023 US PGA Championship.
Here is everything you need to know from the opening day at Oak Hill.
Rose’s roller coaster
Justin Rose produced a spectacular card on day one, starting with birdies at the first and third holes. He double-bogeyed the par-three fifth but got the shots back at the next two holes, before a bogey at the eighth which he again immediately retrieved. Bogeys at the the 11th and 13th sandwiched another birdie and Rose’s up-and-down round featured only four pars in the 14 holes he played to get to one under par before the light faded.
Bunker brilliance from Bezuidenhout
South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout produced one of the highlights of the day when he holed out from a bunker in front of the 14th green for eagle. Despite a three-over-par round, he joined only American Scott Stallings in having an eagle on his card.
Mudbath for Kim
Tom Kim produced the most memorable moment of day one after he attempted to retrieve his ball from a creek on the sixth hole and emerged caked in mud before cleaning off in the water nearby and finishing his round with his sodden trousers rolled up to his knees. Kim was in hysterics after discovering the video clip had gone viral and joked: “I’ve had better days, for sure – I miss days when I played on a tour without cameras!” Attempting to explain the situation, he said: “I hit it over in the mud, I thought it was worth finding and as soon as I got in, there was a moment when part of my legs were inside the mud and I wasn’t able to get myself out for a minute. I took a bath over there! I thought it was going to be better than just having mud.”
Patience from Perez and Pablo
Amid a day of high scoring as Oak Hill bared its teeth, France’s Victor Perez stood out with a serene round. Starting from the tenth, Perez played the back nine in pars and added another at the first before eventually carding his first birdie at the second. Four more pars took him to one under through 15 holes when play was halted.
Pablo Larrazabal put together another impressively consistent round to position himself as one of only 19 players under par when bad light ended play. A birdie at the 17th, his eighth hole, was his only deviation from par until a bogey five at the eighth – and he then reclaimed that shot with a closing birdie at the ninth.
Fashion icon Hovland?
Viktor Hovland’s eye-catching shirt was brought up in his press conference after a rather more aesthetically pleasing round of 68. The Norwegian admitted the bold fire colours were not his usual preference, saying: “No, I wear a lot of grey, black, and that's about it. (Sponsor) Jay Lindbergh, they give me this stuff (to wear) and pay me money to do so, so I just show up and wear what they want me to wear.”
