Round 1 long on frustration
Hadwin among those who struggled with challenging PGA Championship course
Adam Hadwin’s alarm went off at 3:50 a.m. and his day was only going to get harder.
The 31-year-old Canadian began the PGA Championship with a tough, grind-it-out 2-over-par 72 on Thursday. The beastly Bethpage Black on Long Island is one of the most demanding golf courses in the world. Hadwin started his day on the 10th hole, which is more than three kilometres away from the clubhouse. After warming up, a shuttle took him to the furthest point of the golf course, where he had the pleasure of beginning his tournament at 6:56 a.m. on a 502-yard par 4.
The extreme length of Bethpage Black (7,456 yards, par 70) and the incredibly lush, thick rough make finding the fairway off the tee an absolute necessity. Hadwin missed his first fairway by two feet and immediately faced an approach shot from the rough.
“I hit seven-iron, like, 105 yards,” he said of his second shot at the 10th. “I hit it as hard as I could.”
Hadwin explained he doesn’t have the clubhead speed or the angle of attack to get his irons properly through Bethpage’s thick rough.
“So I just open the face up and just try to come down on it as hard as I can and hopefully it goes forward,” Hadwin said.
The native of Abbotsford, B.C., hit just five of 14 fairways Thursday. And for most of the day the new putter he put in the bag this week wasn’t paying off. But after an opening bogey at the 10th, Hadwin got busy grinding and made six consecutive pars before ending his nine with a bogey at the 17th followed by a birdie at 18th.
“Mentally, more than anything, it just wears on you,” he said of the golf course. “It’s so hard to stay patient when you get behind the 8-ball … when you get a guy like Brooks (Koepka) who is still apparently dominating golf courses. You get a couple over early and you want to press, but that’s how end up shooting 6 or 7 over.”
Hadwin missed two golden opportunities to make up ground early in his second nine. An aggressive birdie putt at the par-3 third hole rolled five feet past, then ended with a bogey. A hole later at the short par-5 fourth, he was 10 yards off the green in two shots before stubbing a chip and settling for par.
“It’s definitely a golf course where you have to take advantage of the opportunities when they are in front of you,” he said.
Hadwin tees off at 12:21 p.m. ET Friday.
The second Canadian in the field, Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., made 17 pars and one double-bogey, shooting a 2-over 72 as well.
The Valero Texas Open champion hit 13 of 14 fairways to lead the field in strokes gained off the tee. He hit 15 of 18 greens as well. Wearing out fairways and greens is Conners’ game and he played it to perfection.
But the putts just wouldn’t fall. “I really had some good birdie looks and I think these greens are good now where you can roll in the 20- to 30-foot putts, but I didn’t see that today,” he said.
It’s so hard to stay patient when you get behind the 8-ball … when you get a guy like Brooks (Koepka) who is still apparently dominating.
The goal for Friday is anything under par. His driver is feeling awesome and he’s confident that, given enough chances, the putts will drop.
“Just keep doing what I’ve been doing and get a few of those birdies to roll in,” Conners said. “I’m not going to limit myself. I can see a 5-, 6-under game pretty easily with how I’m playing.”
Conners tees off at 8:35 a.m. ET Friday.
Koepka has a theory that major championships are the easiest tournaments to win.
He went about proving it Thursday.
Koepka shot a course-record 7-under 63 at Bethpage Black to lead the PGA Championship.
The reigning U.S. Open and defending PGA Championship winner explained before the tournament that he can cross off 80 players in this week’s 156-man field right away because, quite simply, they have no chance to beat him. Of the remaining players, he figures half of them won’t bring their A game this week.
“And then, from 35, some of the pressure is going to get to them,” he said. “It only leaves you with a few more and you’ve just got to beat those guys.”
It was a convincing argument even before Koepka showed us the part about shooting an opening-round 63.
Koepka birdied three holes of his opening nine, making the turn to the front nine at 3 under. By day’s end, he had made seven birdies, including on three of the five hardest holes, and it seemed the brutish man and the brutish course were a match made in heaven.
In recent majors, the American looks nearly impossible to beat.
“I’ve never been this confident,” he said. “I think I’m still learning, understanding my game and I’ve figured it out and I think over the next few years I’m excited for what’s to come.”
Koepka had a one-shot lead over Danny Lee, who shot the surprise round of the day: a 6-under 64. Tommy Fleetwood was in third, four shots back, after shooting a 3-under
67.