The defending champion tore up Bethpage Black to surge to the top of the leaderboard
Koepka Shoots 63 To Lead USPGA Championship
Brooks Koepka shot 63 in round one of the USPGA Championship to lead on his own halfway through Thursday at Bethpage Black.
The World Number three was faultless in his opening round, with seven birdies and zero bogeys for the only blemish-free round of the day, so far.
His 63 equals the lowest round ever scored in the tournament’s history.
Koepka spoke about Majors being the easiest tournaments to win in the build up and he looked at ease as he made the brutally difficult Bethpage look like just any other golf course.
The defending champion opened up with a birdie at the 10th, his first, which is a a 502 yard par-4 that many players struggled with.
Tiger Woods was one of those who struggled with it, as the Masters champion made a double-bogey six, one of two doubles in his first nine.
Koepka would add further birdies at the par-3 14th, the 18th and the 1st before another 2 at the par-3 3rd.
Tiger Woods eagled the 4th –
Could you hear the Tiger roar from Bethpage? pic.twitter.com/IWScNZmEQd
— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 16, 2019
His sixth birdie of the round came at the 5th, which is where Tiger Woods made a bogey to drop back to level par after starting the front nine birdie, birdie, par, eagle to get under par.
Koepka rolled in a long putt on his final hole to sign for a 63.
Brooks Koepka birdies his final hole to shoot 63 and leads the #PGAChamp by four.
pic.twitter.com/HAnDeKEDV7
— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 16, 2019
Woods’ three-putt five at the 5th was followed with further bogeys at the 7th and 8th to drop to two over, which is where he finished.
His total of 72 (+2) is nine worse than the total of Koepka but it is by no means a disgrace around the difficult Black Course at Bethpage.
Woods hasn’t played since Augusta and only managed nine holes in practice this week after not playing a practice round yesterday.
The other man in the group, Open champion Francesco Molinari, also shot 72 to trail Koepka by nine.
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