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Jason Day Atop Loaded Leaderboard at PGA Championship

Jason Day and Brendon Todd wound up in a share of the lead Thursday after an opening-round packed with action, just not cheers. Each posted a 5-under 65 at Harding Park, where fog gave way to the sun and the wind eased just enough to make the public course accessible to reasonable scoring.

 

The one constant appears to be Koepka.

 

Just two weeks after he missed a cut and was so frustrated he said he heaved a club 70 yards during practice, he powered his way to six birdies for a 66 that left him in a large group one shot behind.

 

Day, trying to emerge from a slump that has kept him from winning since 2018 and contending in majors since 2016, hit an approach to 6 feet for birdie on No. 9, the second-toughest hole on the course at 518 yards for a par 4 at sea level.

 

Todd’s round was equally impressive. Playing in the afternoon, as the wind strengthened, Todd made seven birdies and finished with a 10-foot par putt.

 

Koepka is the two-time defending champion, presented the opportunity this week to become only the seventh player in the 160-year history of major championship golf to win the same major three years in a row. It was last done 64 years ago.

 

Koepka hasn’t won in more than a year. His left knee has been bothering him since last August. No matter. After a slow start, he quickly moved his way up the leaderboard and stayed there with a series of key putts for par — and one 12-footer for bogey — that gave him an ideal start to this major.

 

He was at 66 with eight other players, a list that included former major winners Justin Rose, Martin Kaymer and Zach Johnson, rising star Xander Schauffele and tour rookie Scottie Scheffler.

 

Woods ran off three birdies in a four-hole stretch toward the end of his round that offset a few mistakes. He opened with a 68, a solid start for a 15-time major champion who has played just one tournament in the last six months.

 

Woods put a new putter into play — this one is a little longer, which he says helps him practice longer without straining his surgically repaired back — and it came in handy. He made a 30-foot birdie early. He was most pleased with a 20-foot par putt on No. 18 as he made the turn.

 

 Just under one-third of the field —47 players — broke par. That included Bryson DeChambeau, who broke his driver on the seventh hole after another vicious swing. Oddly enough, it finally gave way when he leaned on it ever so slightly while picking up his tee.

 

He was able to replace it and challenged the lead — he was 4 under through 10 — until he slid back to a 68.

 

Rory McIlroy overcame three straight bogeys early in his round for an even-par 70. Justin Thomas was going along fine until a pair of double bogeys, one on the seventh hole when his ball never came down from a Monterey Cypress tree. He shot 71.

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