DeChambeau leads US PGA as Rahm has nightmare start

Bryson DeChambeau set the early pace at the US PGA Championship as a testing Oak Hill in New York state proved too much for world number one Jon Rahm.

But Masters champion Rahm and England’s US Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick both struggled and signed for six-over 76s.

Rory McIlroy, who has won this title twice, battled illness to shoot 71, one better than 2022 victor Justin Thomas.

DeChambeau, who famously bulked up before outmuscling Winged Foot – a course likened to Oak Hill – to win the 2020 US Open, certainly seemed comfortable with six birdies and just two bogeys in his opening round.

Fellow LIV golfers Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson – the surprise 2021 winner of this championship – are among the later starters in round one.

The start of the 105th US PGA Championship was delayed for one hour and 50 minutes because overnight frost covered the course in Rochester, which is close to the Canada border. But when play started, this iconic and difficult track soon turned up the heat.

Patience and positioning is key at Oak Hill, with thick rough gobbling up any shots that stray off line, making it almost impossible to find and hold greens when digging the ball out.

While many players had a frustrating day, Scheffler was the epitome of calm, as is his usual demeanour, and he managed to navigate the menacing par-70 layout without dropping a shot in his round of 67.

It was a first bogey-free round in a major, in his 15th start, and coming at such a notoriously difficult course gave the 2022 Masters champion even more delight in his efforts.

“This is one of those places where you just try and stay in position, make the important par putts and just keep the momentum going. I did a good job of that,” he said.

“I feel like my game is better suited for this kind of test. I get more excited for a tournament like this versus a birdie-fest like last week. With that being said, I don’t think mentally I would be able to handle playing a tournament like this every single week on Tour.”

McIlroy battled while Rahm was rattled

McIlroy was a subdued figure in the build-up, with the Northern Irishman still hurting from his stinging missed cut at the Masters, and that continued onto the course with three bogeys in a scratchy front nine.

A two-time US PGA winner, the four-time major winner showed creditable fight on his back nine though with three birdies against one bogey to finish with a 71 to keep himself in the contest – all the while being slightly under the weather himself.

“I’m fighting something,” McIlroy said. “But I actually feel better today than I felt yesterday, so plenty of water and a bit of rest, I’ll be fine.”

It was a disappointing start for Rahm though, with the Spaniard looking strangely out-of-sorts as he laboured to a 76 to leave him thinking more about making the cut than winning the title.

England’s Fitzpatrick, who was in the final pairing at last year’s US PGA, also struggled to a 76 as he failed to find a single birdie.

American Thomas only really made a couple of mistakes, but they cost him three shots as he finished on two over par, while his good friend Jordan Spieth was another who let his temperature boil over at times during his round of 73.

Spieth was a doubt for the tournament with a wrist injury, but showed no real signs of that troubling him as he made a wobbly start to his latest bid to claim the only major to have so far eluded him and with it complete the career Grand Slam.

A war of attrition in Rochester

Canadian Conners and 2011 US PGA champion Keegan Bradley are both tremendous iron players so it was no huge surprise to see them both challenging on a course where positioning is everything.

Norwegian star Viktor Hovland has gone close in the past two majors and joined Bradley on two under.

New Zealander Ryan Fox – the son of All Blacks rugby union legend Grant – has battled pneumonia and suffered sleepless nights following the birth of his second child in recent weeks but he too posted a 68.