Early leader Woodland right at home
ST. LOUIS — Lunch was going to taste particularly good to Rickie Fowler.
Out early and having finished off an opening round of 5-under-par 65 that put him comfortably in the lead of the PGA Championship, Fowler could see the breeze beginning to ripple the flags at Bellerive Country Club.
The greens, relatively smooth in the morning, were getting slower and more tracked up with each passing hour.
There seemed every reason to believe that Fowler, still trying to win his first major, would sleep on his advantage.
Then Gary Woodland, who started his work day five hours after Fowlused er, his muscular game and a phenomenal putting day to overcome any disadvantages the afternoon presented.
After Woodland nearly reacthe hed 597-yard, par-5 17th hole in two shots, he made an easy birdie to be the only player to get to 6 under on the day. The 34-year-old Kansas native came up inches short with a putt on 18 that would have givhim en an eighth birdie over the last 12 holes, and he finished with a 64 to be the sole leader.
The score — one stroke off the PGA and major championship record of 63 — was the best in the expected river of red numbers on the Bellerive layout that is vulnerable because of damp fairways and fragile greens that have been intentionally made to run slower.
Forty-seven players shot under par. Behind Fowler, former Masters champion Zach Johnson and South African Brandon Stone each shot 4under 66, and there were 11 golfers tied with 67s, including world No. 1 Dustin Johnson and fellow major winners Justin Rose, Jason Day and Stewart Cink.
The leaderboard was peppered with golf styles of all sorts — from bombers such as Woodland and Dustin Johnson to sharp ball strikers like Fowler and Rose.
Woodland, a three-time PGA Tour winner who doesn’t have a top-10 finish in a major, happened to put everything together in one of the finest rounds of his career. It was made all the sweeter by the dozens of family members and friends who cheered him from the gallery.
Woodland grew up in Topeka, Kan., about 4½ hours west of St. Louis, and played at the University of Kansas — the bitter rival of Missouri.
“It’s as close as I’ve ever played to home, which is awesome,” Woodland said. “I have a million friends and family out here, which is really cool.”