Dustin Johnson surges to early PGA Championship lead

Dustin Johnson shook off any bitter memories of Whistling Straits on Thursday, firing a six-under par 66 to seize the clubhouse lead in the first round of the US PGA Championship.

Dustin Johnson of USA watches his tee shot on the 11th hole during the first round of the 2015 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. (Andrew Redington/Getty Images/AFP)

KOHLER: Dustin Johnson shook off any bitter memories of Whistling Straits on Thursday (Aug 13), firing a six-under par 66 to seize the clubhouse lead in the first round of the US PGA Championship.

A 28-foot eagle at the par-five 16th and five birdies saw Johnson sign for a six-under par 66 just as the marquee group of Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Zach Johnson were heading to the first tee.

The superstar trio – McIlroy is the world number one and defending champion, Spieth is the Masters and US Open champion and Zach Johnson the 2015 British Open winner – were heading into tougher conditions than the light breezes that greeted the early starters on the 7,501-yard, par-72 course hugging the shore of Lake Michigan.

It’s a place where Dustin Johnson has endured heartbreak. He was leading the 2010 PGA Championship at the final hole when he grounded his club in a scrubby bunker that looked to him like waste ground.

The two stroke penalty and a missed putt at the 72nd hole cost him a place in the playoff won by Germany’s Martin Kaymer. It’s just one of Johnson’s major near misses. He is winless in four attempts when playing in the final pairing in a major championship.

That includes a three-putt finish to the US Open at Chambers Bay in June. Johnson showed no sign that he is shadowed by those close calls as he made the most of the favorable morning conditions.

Starting on the back nine, he opened with back-to-back birdies before his eagle at 16. He added birdies on one, two and four, and his lone bogey, a failed up and down at the par-three third, was followed by a birdie at the fourth.

He was two strokes in front of a big group sharing second on four-under par 68. That included another big-hitting American, J.B. Holmes, and South Korean-born New Zealander Danny Lee, along with Australian Jason Day and Americans Russell Henley, Matt Kuchar and Harris English.

WOODS NINE ADRIFT

Former world number one Tiger Woods couldn’t capitalise on the benign conditions, finishing with five bogeys and two birdies in a three-over par 75. It’s another disappointing start for the 14-time major champion, who missed the cut at the US and British Opens for the first back-to-back missed major cuts in his career.

Woods’s decline – he has slumped to 278th in the world – has left the spotlight firmly focused on young stars McIlroy and Spieth. At 22, Spieth is trying to join Ben Hogan and Woods as the only players to win three majors in the same year.

He is also closing in on the number one world ranking of 26-year-old McIlroy, who is teeing up this week for the first time since tearing a left ankle ligament on Jul 4.

Spieth, 22, had downplayed the importance of a head-to-head clash with McIlroy this week, saying the pursuit of another major title is more important. “I think he and I just want to go out there and try and win the tournament,” Spieth said. “We have to beat each other in order to do that, along with … 155 other guys.”

Source AFP

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