Kiwi golfer Ryan Fox has made a disappointing start to the US PGA Championship this morning and will have his work cut out for him if he is to catch the leaders.
Fox shot 72 in the opening round to leave him 10 shots off the pace of opening round leader Xander Schauffele, who broke the tournament scoring record with a nine-under-par course record 62.
Fox started well, with pars and a birdie on the front nine, but stumbled with back-to-back bogeys and a double-bogey on holes 11-13.
New Zealand rookie Kazuma Kobori started later in the day but is currently two-over-par, leaving him 11 shots behind the leaders.
With Schauffele's landmark round this morning, the American Olympic champion has again equalled the lowest ever round at a major championship, a record he already shared after his 62 in the first round of the US Open at Los Angeles Country Club in 2023.
So the 30-year-old Californian has now become the only player in golf history with multiple rounds of 62 in majors - but he won't be satisfied if he cannot take advantage of what looked likely halfway through the day to be the first-round read.
"I'd say it's very close to my best, if not it," said Schauffele. "I'll take a 62 in any major any day."
Schauffele, who ended up finishing tied for 10th after that blistering US Open start, won't be taking anything for granted once again as he was being pursued by some high-quality performers.
Tony Finau and Sahith Theegala shot six-under 65s, with the in-form Rory McIlroy, a previous PGA winner at Valhalla, a shot further back alongside Scotland's Robert McIntyre.
Defending champion Brooks Koepka was well placed after an opening 67, while Australian Cameron Smith started off with a promising three-under 68 and his LIV-playing compatriot Lucas Herbert went round in 69.
Seizing on the rain-softened conditions at Valhalla, Schauffele, coming off a runner-up finish last week in the Wells Fargo Championship, played the back nine in 31 and then ran off three birdies in a four-hole stretch in the middle of the front nine, all the putts inside 10 feet.
His ninth and final birdie was a long two-putt on the par-5 seventh, and it helped him seal the fourth-ever round of 62 in a major, alongside Branden Grace in the 2017 British Open, at Royal Birkdale, as well as Rickie Fowler, who like him, achieved the feat at last year's US Open.
The previous best round at the PGA was a 63, with one of those being Jose Maria Olazabal's course record at Valhalla 10 years ago.
Tiger Woods saw another solid effort unravel near the end of his round as he carded a 72, the same disappointing opening that his veteran Australian playing partner and friend, Adam Scott, also recorded.
"That wasn't the way I like to finish off a round," Woods said. "Long way to go, and we'll see what happens."
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