Newtown Square, Pa. The opening round of the 108th PGA Championship has seven players tied after scoring a three-under-par 67. The most since the 1969 PGA Championship at NCR Club in Dayton, Ohio.

Here is what they said following their round.

Scottie Scheffler

Q. Scottie, you’ve talked about spotting the field too many shots the first couple rounds. Does this feel satisfying to play this way and be right there?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, definitely the best start I’ve gotten off to this year, maybe besides American Express maybe. Yeah, I felt like, especially going into the weekend when you look at like the Masters and Hilton Head and Cadillac, finishing second was probably not all that bad from where I was starting the weekend.

Yeah, definitely nice to get off to a better start this week.

Q. 13 of 14 fairways, I believe. Does that feel right? Is that important to you? Getting the ball on the fairways?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It’s always important to get the ball on the fairway. I think around this golf course there’s a lot of run-ups on the greens, and they put the pins on some of the high points. So your scores are definitely going to be lower if you hit the ball on the fairway, but it’s still really, really difficult to make birdies.

You hit some really nice iron shots in there to 10, 15 feet, and you’ve got putts with a ton of break on them. This golf course, especially on the greens, is quite challenging.

Q. I know they don’t give out prizes after one round, but given all you’ve achieved in this sport, how does it leave you feeling, the fact that you, for the first time ever, you have the lead or a share of the lead after one round at a major? How do you feel about the position you put yourself in?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I think the emphasis would be share of the lead. I think there’s like six or seven guys up there. I mean, it’s a really tight leaderboard. At this moment, it’s anybody’s tournament.

Like you said, it’s nice to get off to a good start. Get some rest tonight and wake up and do more of the same tomorrow.

Q. We saw you miss the par putt on 14. To the broadcast cameras, it kind of look like you just stood there and laughed. What did you make of the way the greens were playing today?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I mean, there’s a ton of slope on the greens. That putt in particular on 14, it was like the pin was on the very highest point of the green. It was like everything around it went like this. I just watched Fitzy’s putt break right to left and he missed it on the left side. So I played it what I thought was right center, and it broke pretty severely to the right.

There’s just not much you can do there other than laugh. That’s part of the game. Sometimes you get good and bad breaks. I holed a couple of long putts today, and any time you’re able to do something like that, you’ve got to take the good with the bad.

Q. It’s the first time this area has held a major tournament in quite a while. We saw some video of you during practice rounds getting chirped for being a Cowboys fan. What did you make of the environment during the first full day of competition today?

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: I got chirped more than I expected for being a Cowboys fan, but it was all in good fun. I got quite a kick out of it. The fans were quite funny today.

Philly is definitely a sports town. I said it a little in the beginning, I haven’t played much golf here and haven’t spent much time in the city, and I certainly won’t this week with it being a golf tournament.

Yeah, it was a lot of fun. The crowd had some great energy today. There were some really cool spots on the golf course where you can kind of get punch bowl type of feel and the crowd can get loud.

Like, I holed a nice putt on 7, and it was really loud.

Another nice par putt on 8, and it was really loud. The crowd had a ton of energy, and it was really fun to play in front of them today.

Alex Smalley

THE MODERATOR:Alex, quite the start for you today. How would you summarize your opening round?

ALEX SMALLEY: It’s hard to complain with three birdies in the first five holes. Definitely kind of gets you to ease into the round a little bit.

Just tried to give myself as many birdie looks as I could and was able to do that for the most part on the first few holes and hit some good putts that were able to go in.

Definitely a dream start, if you would call it that. Then just try and hold on for dear life for a few holes after that.

Q. Alex, I guess it’s a good habit, these 67s in the first round of the PGA Championship, did the same thing last year. Do you take something from last year at Quail Hollow into the next three days?

ALEX SMALLEY: Yeah, I mean, I think the circumstances are a little different. I had played Quail Hollow for the Wells Fargo before the PGA last year, so I was fairly familiar with the golf course. I had played a tournament there before the PGA.

This one was brand new for me. I had never seen it before I had arrived on property earlier this week.

But yeah, it’s a big golf tournament, and I just try to think of it as any other standard golf tournament, just trying to prepare the same way I normally would for any other week throughout the year.

I would certainly look back on last year and how I felt, kind of being up near the top of the leaderboard after Thursday and close to the top on Friday.

Q. And what was going through your head on the 6th tee, after starting like that? And what is the impulse to try to keep that momentum going?

ALEX SMALLEY: On what tee box did you say?

Q. 6 tee box.

ALEX SMALLEY: On 6? Try to hit the fairway. I don’t think my strategy really changed a whole lot, even after the first five holes. I still tried to hit as many fairways as I could. I tried to play smart, tried to hit it to the widest spot of the fairway. Didn’t try to rip driver everywhere on every single hole.

But I knew 7 — you know, 7 and 8 were difficult holes. I know 10 was a difficult hole. So I had some tricky ones coming up.

But like I said, I was — after that start, I hate to say it, but you — you know, you still want to push forward a little bit, but you know the golf course is playing tricky, so there’s definitely a few holes where you’re kind of just playing for par even when you walk up to the tee box. You’re still trying to hit the best shot you possibly can, but maybe my targets got a little further away from the hole after the start. But yeah, I mean, I just tried to hit the fairways as much as I could, hit the greens, and try to get a decent look at birdie on those holes after that.

Q. I think in general, how hard do you try to stay away from the rough here? Both close to the fairways or on the greens, and how much is that the key here this week?

ALEX SMALLEY: Yeah, the rough is tricky. It’s a very thick blade of grass. So you can certainly get some bad lies in places, but there’s a few holes where it’s a little spotty — sorry. Got something stuck in my throat here.

Yeah, I feel like I did a good job of hitting the greens and being smart with where I was trying to leave it on the greens. I don’t really think I was in the rough around the greens a whole lot today.

Then, some of the tee shots where I did miss the fairway, I felt like I missed it on the correct side. So I had a good angle into where the pin was. That was the case on No. 7. I’m not really sure how you’re supposed to hold that fairway with the way it slopes towards the rough. It’s a very difficult fairway to hit.

I hit a couple tee shots where I just kind of had to punch out. 10 and 15 was kind of behind the 8 ball right off the tee shot. For the most part, I felt like I was good off the tee and then with my targets going into the greens.

Martin Kaymer

THE MODERATOR: Martin, 3-under today. What can you tell us about your opening round.

MARTIN KAYMER: Really well. Didn’t make many mistakes. Stayed out of trouble. Avoided those 5-, 6-, 7-footers for par that can be quite stressful. It can be a quite intimidating golf course, especially with that wind, cold wind we had today. So, the goal was to hit fairways and greens and try to hit a lot of those lag putts. And I did well of that.

Again, I avoided the big numbers. I made one poor tee shot and the rest of it was very consistent.

THE MODERATOR: Great. Thank you. Questions?

Q. A couple of things. Can you talk about 9 and, I mean, I think, I understand you hit a driver off the deck.

MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, I hit a lovely drive onto the middle of the fairway. And then I think I had 300 yards to the flag, uphill, and I said to my caddie, did he, do you think 3-wood can get to the front of the green? And he said, There’s no chance. So, and I practice a lot driver from the fairway. It was a lovely lie on the fairway. The grass grows with you, so you know you’re not going to hit it fat. That’s usually the mistake that you do. And again, I practice it a lot and there’s no reason, if you can do it in practice, why shouldn’t you be able to do it in the tournament. So, and it was a nice one.

Q. And the other thing, it looks like it’s been 25 years since there was two Germans in the top 5 in the first day of a major.

MARTIN KAYMER: Who was that?

Q. That was 2001 at The Open Championship with Bernhard and —

MARTIN KAYMER: Alex Cejka.

Q. Yeah.

MARTIN KAYMER: Okay. So we have one more going. I think Matti Schmidt is also playing well, so we’ll see how he goes.

Q. What does it mean for you that it’s going so well?

MARTIN KAYMER: Well Stephan is not really German anymore. He lives in America for a long time. He has a German passport and he speaks perfect German, but he’s more American than German now.

Q. How would you assess this season coming into this week? Did you feel like you were going to come here and get off to such a good start?

MARTIN KAYMER: I’ve been playing well the last two, three events out on LIV. I didn’t have good result, but I was playing well. And I knew I find more consistency. I really enjoy playing this golf course. Monday, Tuesday, I had so much fun on the golf course. I think it really suits my eye. It’s a very fair test. Great for the PGA Championship.

But I tell you, I tell you funny story. On Tuesday evening we had the champion’s dinner, and there was a gentleman sitting next to me from the PGA of America, and he asked me if I would be, if I still play. And I said, What do you mean? He said, Well, are you playing this week? And I said, Yeah, that’s why I’m here. I’m not flying from Europe to here to have a New York strip with you guys, you know, of course I’m playing. And that really motivated me. So it was a good start to the week. Again, I really enjoy Aronimink Golf Course, it’s fun to play and I look forward to hopefully have another three good days.

Q. You spoke before the season that your health was finally coming around, that you were feeling a little bit healthier. Do you feel like this is as healthy as you’ve been going into a major in quite some time?

MARTIN KAYMER: For five years, yeah. I’ve been struggling since 2021. And obviously I had a couple surgeries then and other issues came with it the years after. And it was quite disappointing for me that playing out there on the LIV Golf league I could never really perform, because I could never really practice, because I was always hurt. I needed to — obviously we all need to play the tournaments, and I didn’t really have enough time and enough rest in between events to rest, to have a fully rest. So I always came into tournaments never prepared. The other guys were ready to play. They were playing great. To be honest, it really pissed me off. So fortunately last four, five weeks I had great treatments, I have no pain any more. Everything is going the right direction. I can practice. It’s fun. I have a great passion for the game. Playing those tough golf courses and doing well executing the golf shots the right way, that is really fun.

Q. 2024 was the last year for your U.S. Open exemption. So this is the only major that you still have an exemption for. How much do you cherish these opportunities to still compete in them, in the majors?

MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, I mean, for several reasons. I really like to see some of the guys that I played Ryder Cups with, that I played many tournaments on the European Tour with. That is nice to see them. But also competing against the best guys in the world, you do that in majors. That is the ultimate. And winning the PGA in 2010 and the U.S. Open, that is the ultimate feeling. No tournament, it doesn’t matter on what TOUR you can play can keep up with that. So having the opportunity every year now for the few more years that is great. And I’m very honored that I could, that I can do that and compete against the guys.

Ryo Hisatsume

THE MODERATOR: Ryo, a 67 for you today. Tell us about your great start.

RYO HISATSUNE: Yeah, I’m very lucky, especially with a lot of birdies and a lot of bounceback, so it’s feeling like more — it’s a much — it’s comfortable to play the golf today. I’m so happy.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about your birdies here? Seven birdies today, which is very impressive. What would be your best birdies today?

RYO HISATSUNE: Like on 15, a long hole, but it’s driving almost 350 or something like that. Then I hit an 8-iron like to 15 feet. It’s a really nice bounce back there.

Then on 16 also like, kind of it’s nice, like that one is best hole, I think.

Q. I don’t know how many times you started a major like this, but how good does it feel to be in the position you are?

RYO HISATSUNE: To be honest, like kind of — my playing mate is from PGA, so quite a bit like that major is playing much — not comfortable, but I just more know the tournament. So playing, chipping well.

Today got very lucky, so just happy.

Q. Last year’s PGA, you started out really, really well, faded a little bit. Did you learn anything that week about what can be different about majors versus maybe just PGA TOUR events?

RYO HISATSUNE: Yeah, also like much help in this year, especially a lot of Signature Events playing as well. So a lot of big events. Especially like last year, it’s really nice experience as well.

Yeah, it’s a really nice start. A little wet, little soft conditions today, so it’s a little help for me.

Min Woo Lee

THE MODERATOR: Min Woo, a great start for you today. How would you summarize your opening round?

MIN WOO LEE: Played great. Drove the ball really well. I think every major you have to, but especially this course, the rough is pretty juicy, and you don’t want to attack the greens over in the rough just because you can get some fliers or you can get some lies that sit down.

So drove it really well and pretty happy with that side of the game. I thought I played pretty solid all day, didn’t get myself in too much trouble. There’s tough holes out there, of course, but yeah, played really well.

Q. A few players have mentioned they thought the hole location, the pins were pretty good today. Were you pleasantly surprised?

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah, there was a couple pins that were on hills and they were tough, but I don’t think — I think we have a lot of wedges in our hands. So you have to put them in pretty tough positions or else it will get, I guess, very scorable.

I think they did a really good job on putting them in tough positions, enough to think about it coming into the greens. Yeah, it’s a course where you don’t want to leave it in bad positions just because it can bite you in the butt pretty quick. So I think they did a really good job.

Q. A couple guys talking about how tough the rough is out there. Where did you find it the most difficult? Would it be around the green, or was it something from off the tee?

MIN WOO LEE: I would say — I mean, I wasn’t in the rough too much. So it’s quite nice to answer that question.

Q. Everybody’s in it some.

MIN WOO LEE: Around the greens is kind of tough. I think you’ve got to get somewhat lucky. You don’t want to — it can be unpredictable. The ones that sit down, you give it a little bit more, and then it just jumps. Then the ones that sit up, you think it’s going to come out hard, and it comes out soft.

Obviously it comes down to a lot of feel and practice. You can get some gnarly lies out there, especially around the greens. Again, you just need to miss them in the right spots. If you have enough space, you can roll them off the greens.

It’s nice that it doesn’t spin too much out of there, it just rolls out. So if you do have room, you can — as long as you have a landing spot, it’s just going to go forward.

Very tough as well with the approach play. You’ve got to hit it in the right spots, and you’ve got to aim for 30 feet, 40 feet, and try to two-putt and move on. But that’s what you expect at a major.

Q. Would you be surprised if there were too many guys that got better than 3-under? It seems pretty tough.

MIN WOO LEE: I think someone may shoot lower than that. I’m not sure what the wind is now. I don’t know if it’s going to get stronger. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone shoots 4- or 5-under. I think, if you’re driving the ball and you’re a great iron player and you hole some putts, I think you can do it.

I feel like I hit it really good but missed a couple putts that I could have holed. Obviously we would like to hole all our putts, but I think — I wouldn’t be surprised.

Q. Majors are what everybody’s striving to win and looking to peak their games at the four times in the year. Unfortunately, you’ve had kind of a string of not making the cuts or whatever. How does it feel to put yourself in this position after the first round here today?

MIN WOO LEE: Yeah, it’s great. I think we’re all trying to get off to a good start. I think over the last few months I haven’t done that.

I think just a little bit of a mindset change, go out there and be aggressive instead of — you know that saying of you can shoot yourself out of a Thursday, but I think I’ve nearly taken that too far and played a little bit conservative. I’m hitting the ball really good, so why not go at some pins and make some putts?

It’s great to start off well. We’re all trying to do that. It’s tough, but I think it was kind of the right time to put the foot on the pedal a little bit and hit some shots that needed to be more aggressive than not.

Aldrich Potgieter

Q. Aldrich, a real nice start for you today at 3-under 67. What did you do well out there?

ALDRICH POTGIETER: I think I hit it on the right spots on the golf course, especially on the greens. I didn’t feel like I had to putt over some of these big slopes we had. So I definitely left myself in really good positions on the green. Definitely made some long putts. So it was nice the putter was warm.

And struggling off the tee a bit on the front nine when it was cold, but definitely got better on the back.

Q. You made quite a few birdies, it looks like. Any of those stand out to you?

ALDRICH POTGIETER: Yeah, I think the one on 11 was a nice putt from down the slope. So that was pretty nice to hole a long one.

Q. Aldrich, this is your lowest round in a major so far in your career. What kind of confidence does this give you with a performance like today moving forward?

ALDRICH POTGIETER: I think it helped this morning being out so early. There wasn’t a lot of people out there this morning on the first couple of holes. So it was nice to kind of get in my own little space and kind of get a groove in early on.

It’s nice being in America playing here over the last two years and kind of coming to these big events, playing more Signature Events as well. I definitely feel this week I’m more comfortable.

I had some really nice finishes in the last couple weeks, kind of momentum moving in. So that’s also nice.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about your vision of your expectations coming into the week and how good this feels for you today?

ALDRICH POTGIETER: Yeah, it’s nice to be on the leaderboard early on in the week. I think the last couple of weeks I didn’t have that first round where I got myself close enough to the leaders, and kind of felt like I had to catch up a little bit.

So it’s nice to be in this position now and getting in before hopefully the wind picks up a little bit for this afternoon. It’s nice to get out early and get the first day done.

Q. Talking about how comfortable you feel with the best players in the world and then who’s kind of your inspiration among the South Africans?

ALDRICH POTGIETER: I think one of the big names that always pop up is Ernie Els, seeing how well he did in the majors all the time and kind of how he was always in that top 10 all the time, how he was hanging around those leaders.

It’s nice to have a first round settled in and kind of be in a good position for the rest of the week, having a bit more of a mid-morning kind of tee time for tomorrow, so I can kind of have a look at the leaderboard and see what the other guys are doing.

It’s nice to be on a golf course that I’m more comfortable at, and it’s nice to have some good results on the first day. So it’s nice.

Q. How many drivers did you hit today, and do you really — does it fit you okay off the tee with a driver, or do you not need it that often?

ALDRICH POTGIETER: I think probably out of the 14 we would hit, I think there’s more par-3s. I’m probably hitting around 10 or 11 at least out there. It’s definitely wind and tee box dependent, but that front nine was a little cold, and I was hitting some kind of knuckleballs. It’s hard when the shaft is that stiff and your body’s not working properly to get the ball speed up for the shaft to work as well.

It was pretty tough to grind out on that front nine, but we’ll definitely hit some more fairways in the warmer weather.

Q. I’m just curious, with only the two par-5s, is it important that you made birdie on each one? Is that important if you’re going to score around here?

ALDRICH POTGIETER: Yeah, I think you’ve got to take advantage — not either one par-5 is real gettable. I would say, I think 16 is a really long one and is playing into the wind today. So if you can cover those left bunkers, you might be able to reach in with maybe a 4-iron or 2-iron or a 3-wood. That pin placement is real tough. I think a lot of guys will be hitting in that bunker trying to make a good up-and-down.

9 is a little bit more forgiving, I think, trying to hit on the green and just have a really good two-putt on the big green.

I wouldn’t say they’re too gettable, but it definitely goes a long way getting those two under the belt as birdies.

Stephan Jaeger

THE MODERATOR: How would you summarize your opening round?

STEPHAN JAEGER: A tale of two nines. I feel like on the front I hit some fairways and made some nice putts. The front is a little more scorable than the back, shorter, a lot of wedges in, two par-5s. So I felt like I took advantage of that.

Yeah, kind of kept it together on the back. I felt like I hit some nice shots on the back, and it’s just playing a little harder. I’m definitely happy with the round for sure.

Q. Stephan, can you talk a little bit about that succession there, I mean, the birdies, and how were you feeling at that moment?

STEPHAN JAEGER: Yeah, it’s nice. I started off pretty nice, hitting it down the fairway. Hit a wedge to 12, 15 feet and made the putt.

I made a longish putt on the 3rd hole.

Kind of made a longish putt the next hole. It just kind of fed a little bit.

Hit a decent wedge on the next hole, made about a 15-footer. All of a sudden, you look up, and you’re 4-under through, I don’t know, seven or six.

It’s one of those golf courses you can get off on kind of a hot start there, and I did exactly that. Kind of cruised my way in, into the round, and had some cushion for sure.

Q. You’re in one of the earliest groups to go off this morning. How did that affect the conditions you played in on that front nine coming off like the overnight rain?

STEPHAN JAEGER: It’s kind of hard because you kind of prepare for a certain golf course, and you don’t know how much rain the golf course got, how soft it is. So you kind of inch your way the first couple holes with some wedges off fairways and see what the ball’s doing on the greens.

But it held up great, honestly. The golf course is in unbelievable shape. Even with the rain, the greens have some bounce to them. You don’t have to really worry about ripping it back too much, except for a few holes.

Yeah, the golf course played unbelievable this morning for sure.

Q. You were tied for 4th after the first round at last year’s championship. Why do you like PGAs?

STEPHAN JAEGER: I think I got asked that question last year. Yeah, I think the PGA does the best job setting up a hard golf course. They always give you some easy holes. There’s always hard holes, depending on where we go.

But I felt that way. I played in Oak Hill. Valhalla, obviously with the rain was pretty easy for a PGA. I feel like they always kind of set it up fair, and depending on what the golf course looks like, it might be kind of playing in my wheelhouse a little bit.

This golf course, the fairways are wide. You can kind of take some bunkers out of play with some longer drives. So I like that kind of golf. I’m aggressive that way off the tee. So I feel comfortable here for sure.

Q. What made you cool off after the hot start on the front nine? Just golf?

STEPHAN JAEGER: Yeah, the front nine, like I said, it’s playing a little easier. Then I started missing some fairways on the back, which necessarily — you know, you kind of got to play a little defense there. Even if it’s two, three yards off the fairway, you kind of got to miss on the right side, and you’ve got to take some 30-, 40-, 50-footers for birdie for sure.

Q. There was a little bit of discussion about some bottlenecks on the golf course. Did you encounter any of that as far as having to wait?

STEPHAN JAEGER: It’s a major. It’s decently windy. The golf course is not too easy. I’m not expecting to play in under five hours, even though I wish we could. I’m a fast player.

But 9 and 17 there’s a little bottleneck. That was not the problem for us. Even 1 and 10 have the same tee box, but they staggered the tee times to the point where we didn’t really see that. We were more waiting on the group in front of us, not really between the other tee boxes for sure.

Q. When you woke up early this morning, what would you have thought if somebody had told you you’d shoot a 67 out there today?

STEPHAN JAEGER: I think any time you shoot in the 60s at a major, I think you take it. This golf course, you play a practice round, no wind, and you’re like, my God, this is a pretty easy golf course.

Then you played yesterday in the wind, and you’re like, oh, my God, I can’t break 75 here.

So I think that’s a sign of a nice mix of golf holes. And like I said, I would take that for three more days and watch everybody play the weekend for sure.

Q. Specifically you mentioned the breeze. I’m curious how it felt for you on 8 specifically, the par-3 down the hill, and how you managed the wind during the course of the day.

STEPHAN JAEGER: The wind wasn’t too bad today. It was like — it was Monday, Tuesday northwesterly. And then Wednesday, yesterday, it was southwest, which I think we may get on the weekend a little bit.

I wouldn’t say it was super in play. 8’s a crazy hole. I hit 5-wood on two par-3s today. That one I didn’t play well. I kind of hit it out to the right. It’s a cool-looking hole. It’s probably 30 yards too long today, but it is what it is. I made bogey there.

I think you don’t lose too many — you know, too much spots from making a 4 on that hole for sure.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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