By Darren Walton
Jason Day has crashed back to earth on an opening day of tough going for Australia’s golfers at the 105th US PGA Championship in New York.
Backing up from his drought-breaking victory at the AT&T Byron Nelson Championship, Day flopped with a six-over-par 76 to trail clubhouse leader and first-round playing partner Bryson DeChambeau by 10 shots.
Day amassed a 23-under winning total last week in Texas but couldn’t manage a single birdie on Thursday after frost delayed the start of play at the season’s second major championship by almost two hours.
The former world No.1 and 2015 PGA championship winner opted against playing a practice round at Oak Hill, preferring to save his energy and now needs all he can muster on Friday just to make the halfway cut.
Starting on the 10th, Day’s troubles began when he drove out of bounds on the 14th and wound up with a double-bogey six.
He added four bogeys to end his round, languishing in a tie for 130th spot in the 156-player field.
Jason Day is now at long odds to again lift the Wanamaker Trophy he won in 2015.Credit: AP
Australia’s other early starters, British Open champion Cameron Smith mixed three birdies with five bogeys in a two-over 72, while Min Woo Lee posted a 73.
Adam Scott, Cam Davis, Lucas Herbert and David Micheluzzi on his major championship debut all had late tee times.
Last year’s Masters winner Scottie Scheffler carded the first bogey-free round of his major career to claim the early clubhouse lead, carving out a three-under-par 67.
The world No.2 had birdies at the fifth, eighth and 13th holes and was joined safely in the clubhouse at three under by Canadian Corey Conners.
Day opened with four pars before disaster struck with a double bogey on the par-4 14th at Oak Hill.Credit: Getty
“This place is pretty tough,” Scheffler said.
“I came into today’s round just trying to play solid golf. I kept the course in front of me for the most part and hit some really good tee shots on the important holes.
“Then I had some nice saves as well. It’s just one of those places where you hit one shot maybe barely offline, and sometimes can you hit a good shot and end up in a place where it’s pretty penalising.
“There’s lots of tough holes out there and not really many birdie opportunities out there.”
New Zealander Ryan Fox was among the few players in red numbers early, signing for a 68 to be one shot behind Scheffler.
Two-time champion and world No.3 Rory McIlroy had a 71.
“It’s tough,” he said. “I actually expected the scoring to be a little bit better today than what it is.”
AAP
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