Day begins PGA on the right note

Top-ranked defending champion Jason Day, battling illness and fatigue, birdied the par-4 11th hole yesterday at Baltusrol for a solid start to his repeat bid at the 98th PGA Championship.

The 28-year-old Australian, a seven-time winner in his past 18 starts, stood on one-under after three holes following a back-nine start alongside four-time major champion Rory McIlroy and five-time major winner Phil Mickelson. McIlroy opened with three pars while Mickelson began bogey-par-par after finding a greenside bunker at 10 and missing a seven-foot par putt. Sharing the early lead on two-under were Sweden’s David Lingmerth, England’s Paul Casey, Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo and Americans Harris English, Jimmy Walker and Rickie Fowler.