Can Phil Mickelson keep this going and other big things to know for Round 2 of the PGA Championship

KIAWAH ISLAND, South Carolina — Even earlier than a tee was formally put within the floor Thursday morning on the PGA Championship, there was a certainty curiosity. How would the golf course play? Would the wind blow a lot the very best gamers on the planet would spend the whole week simply making an attempt to hold on? And, in fact, which gamers would deal with the troublesome Ocean Course at Kiawah Island?

The primary set of solutions got here Thursday, full with some surprises. Some good (Phil Mickelson and Corey Conners), some dangerous (Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson).

Now it’s on to Spherical 2, as gamers place themselves for the weekend — and in some circumstances, strive to ensure they’re nonetheless round for the weekend.

Can Phil Mickelson actually contend?

Posting a rating beneath par within the first spherical of a significant, at the same time as he crept towards 50 years outdated after which previous it, wasn’t out of the strange for Mickelson. Effectively, there’s one catch: It often occurred solely on the Masters, the place he has opened with a rating within the 60s 4 occasions previously 5 years.

The primary spherical of a significant exterior the gates of Augusta Nationwide … now that’s a unique story. That’s the reason his opening-round 70, which included a 4-under, bogey-free 32 on the harder again 9 on the Ocean Course, is so shocking.

Take away the Masters and Mickelson has posted an under-par spherical to start a significant simply as soon as in his previous 10 begins. That occurred on the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black. He went 13 over the subsequent three days and tied for 71st.

“Within the final couple of months I’ve been beginning to play good golf,” he mentioned after Thursday’s spherical. “I’ve had a bit hassle staying current on each shot for the whole spherical. I believed I did a reasonably good job of that right this moment.”

On Thursday, he stood on the seventh tee at 3 over thanks to 3 consecutive bogeys and 4 in his first six holes. A birdie on the seventh steadied him. He didn’t make a mistake the remainder of the best way.

Nonetheless, that was only one spherical. There are three extra left on a treacherous golf course. Can this final?

“Effectively my expectations are to play good rounds as a result of I’ve been enjoying properly and hitting good photographs,” mentioned Mickelson, who turns 51 in June. “What I did do properly was I used to be extraordinarily strong inside 6-7 toes. I putted very well. I didn’t make something exterior of that, however I made everybody inside.”

The final participant over 50 who closed the primary spherical inside the highest 10 was Fred Funk in 2006; he completed tied for twentieth.

Who precisely is Corey Conners?

OK, you’re taking a look at all these names on the leaderboard. Mickelson and Brooks Koepka … yeah, you undoubtedly know them. Viktor Hovland, certain, one of many rising younger stars within the sport. Even Keegan Bradley sounds acquainted. In any case, he received this main championship 10 years in the past.

Nonetheless, the identify on the very high, Conners, won’t precisely ring a bell. However the 29-year-old Canadian can play. He presently stands twenty second within the FedEx Cup factors standings and has three top-10s since March. Marvel if he can deal with the massive stage, contemplating it is a main?

Effectively, two of these top-10s got here on the Gamers Championship (seventh) and the Masters (T-8). He additionally completed tenth within the 2023 Masters again in November.

“I’ve a variety of perception in myself, and I’ve been enjoying properly for fairly some time,” mentioned Conners, who has one PGA Tour win, which got here on the 2019 Valero Texas Open. “I’m excited for the chance to play in opposition to the very best gamers on the planet and put my sport to the take a look at.”

His demeanor, even in robust circumstances, by no means modified. Even with a lead at a significant for the primary time, he doesn’t count on something completely different on Friday.

“Type of easy tempo within the golf swing and fairly chill persona,” he mentioned.

The Koepka issue

Koepka mentioned earlier than the event started that his docs mentioned it could be six extra months earlier than his ailing proper knee can be at 100%. He was requested about it some extra — the influence on his sport, the constraints it causes him when he tries to learn putts. He shrugged all of it off. He mentioned none of that mattered this week.

“It’s a significant,” he mentioned. “I’m going to point out up. I’m able to play. I’ve been itching to do that since Augusta [where he missed the cut]. I really feel so a lot better now. I don’t must be 100% to have the ability to play good.”

That was apparent Thursday. Regardless of opening with a double-bogey 6 on the tenth, his first gap of the day, Koepka carded six birdies en path to a 69. He stands in a tie for second, 2 photographs behind chief Corey Conners.

“I find it irresistible when it’s troublesome,” he mentioned. “I feel that’s why I accomplish that properly within the majors. I simply know mentally I can grind it out.”

In his personal protection

Collin Morikawa positioned himself properly to maintain his maintain on the Wanamaker Trophy. Regardless of a brief miss on the ninth, his closing gap of the day, he opened with 2-under 70 and heads into Friday’s second spherical inside the highest 10.

“I really feel like the place my sport is at proper now and the way I’m hitting my irons, it feels actually strong,” mentioned Morikawa, who made considered one of simply seven birdies on the par-4 18th gap, which performed as probably the most troublesome on the course.

As he discovered final yr, he’ll want extra good ballstriking, and a bit luck like he received Thursday, to defend his title.

“On 17, I believed I fanned it within the water, [instead] I’m having a two-putt par,” he mentioned, noting a wind gust really bailed him out. “So that you simply have a bit luck in your aspect. Hopefully you may name up these weeks that every little thing sort of goes proper.”

When the massive names hit the course

ESPN+ Featured Teams for Friday

All occasions ET

7:38 a.m. — Corey Conners, Tony Finau, Matthew Fitzpatrick
7:49 a.m. Phil Mickelson, Jason Day, Padraig Harrington
8 a.m. — Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Patrick Reed
8:33 a.m. — Jordan Spieth, Will Zalatoris, Webb Simpson
1:03 p.m — Rickie Fowler, Adam Scott, Tyrrell Hatton
1:47 p.m. — Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele, Lee Westwood
1:58 p.m. — Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas
2:08 p.m. — Collin Morikawa, Bryson DeChambeau, Hideki Matsuyama

For all of the methods to look at on ESPN+, click on right here.

For the complete listing of tee occasions, click on right here.

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Bryson DeChambeau sinks the birdie on the eighth gap on the PGA Championship.

Take a look at DeChambeau transfer

Bryson DeChambeau will get scrutinized. He is aware of it. Whether or not it’s for his physique transformation or his scientific strategy to the sport, every little thing he does is picked aside. One a part of his sport that has all the time been a goal has been his tempo of play. He has been criticized, greater than as soon as, for being gradual. That’s the reason Morikawa needed everybody to listen to about how DeChambeau received round Thursday on a tricky golf course in windy circumstances.

“I feel individuals want to offer him credit score, beginning right this moment, that he’s really choosing up the tempo,” Morikawa mentioned. “It was superb how briskly he really performed. I’m not going to say quick, however he wasn’t gradual. You weren’t simply ready on him to determine no matter. Kudos to him as a result of it was windy and he had to determine some stuff for certain. However I take pleasure in it. He’s a personality. He’s his personal individual. That’s what makes Bryson, Bryson.”

Minimize watch

McIlroy was the favourite getting into this occasion. His first swing of the day, off the tenth tee, went into the water. He took a drop and made bogey. Worse nonetheless, he bogeyed three of the Ocean Course’s 4 par-5s. It’s the first time he has ever carried out that in a significant championship, which helped clarify why he signed for a 3-over 75. In 2012, when McIlroy received the PGA Championship on this course, he performed the par-5s in 8 beneath for the week.

Taking part in associate Justin Thomas, who received the Gamers Championship earlier this yr and is looking for his second PGA Championship, matched McIlroy along with his personal 75. They head into Friday’s second spherical in a tie for 79th. Meaning they want strong rounds not simply to get again within the event, however to safe a spot for the weekend.

So, too, does 2023 Masters champion Dustin Johnson. He stumbled to the end, doubling his closing gap to publish 4-over 76. He stands in a tie for 98th place.

The highest 70 gamers, plus ties, advance to Saturday’s third spherical.