CHARLOTTE,NC. Going into the 107th PGA Championship at Quail Hollow there was strong belief that a major tussle for supremacy would be in play right from the start of the event for the world’s elite players.
Guess what?
The world ranked number one player Scottie Scheffler scored a two-under-par 69 and he happened to be paired with Masters winner Rory McIlroy and defending champion Xander Schauffele. McIlroy opened with a flat three-over-par 74 and Schauffele fared only slightly better with a round of 71.
Dating back to 1994, there has been only one instance of a PGA Championship having zero players from the top-10 on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) among the top-10 on the leaderboard at the conclusion of a round.
At the end of the second round of the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, the best-ranked golfer among the top-10 was Brooks Koepka (third place after R2, ranked #13 in OWGR at the time).
The best ranked golf on the OWGR among the top 10 on the leaderboard at this moment is USA Ryder Cup Captain Keegan Bradley (currently T-7, ranked #19 in OWGR).
There are currently several marquee players way down the leaderboard. Only two players have ever won the PGA Championship after being ranked 50 or worse on the leaderboard at the end of the first round:
•Payne Stewart, 1989 Kemper Lakes GC, T-77 after Round 1
•John Mahaffey, 1978 Oakmont CC, T-59 after Round 1
54 holes remain but securing a better position after round two is now an imperative to be in weekend position for a run at the Wannamaker Trophy.
Interesting sidebars from Quail Hollow’s first round
•There are players from twelve countries among the top-10 and ties – a new major championship record. The previous mark was eleven, at the Open Championship in 1997 (Round 4), 2002 (Round 2) and 2006 (Round 1); and the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club (Round 2).
•First round leader Jhonattan Vegas (64) is the only player representing the country of Venezuela to win a tournament on the PGA TOUR, having won four. He becomes the first player from Venezuela to lead or co-lead at the end of any major championship round.
•Vegas’ only other top-10 rank at the end of a major championship round was T-9 at the end of the first round of 2016 PGA Championship at Baltusrol GC. He went on to finish T-22. No other player representing Venezuela has ever been among the top-10 on the leaderboard at the end of a major championship round.
•In PGA Championship history, there have never been more than four players representing England among the top 20 on the leaderboard at the conclusion of a round. Six English nationals (Luke Donald, Matt Fitzpatrick, Aaron Rai, Harry Hall, Marco Penge and Tyrrel Hatton) occupy that position after round one.
•Both of the current Ryder Cup captains, Luke Donald and Keegan Bradley, are near the top of the leaderboard after shooting 67 (-4) and 68 (-3), respectively. The only time that both sitting Ryder Cup captains were among the top-10 at the conclusion of a major championship round during a Ryder Cup year was at the 1937 Open Championship at Carnoustie.
At the end of the second round, Europe captain Charles Whitcombe and U.S. Captain Walter Hagen were T-2 and T-8 on the leaderboard, respectively. Interesting side note — in the 1937 instances – the Ryder Cup was played one month prior to the Open Championship.
