📰 Ryan Fox up with leaders after superb start to PGA Championship

By Cameron McMillan

Ryan Fox has taken his winning form into the first round of the PGA Championship.

Coming off the back of his maiden PGA Tour win at the Myrtle Beach Classic on Monday, which earned the final spot in the second major of the year, the Kiwi has made a strong start at Quail Hollow Club with a four-under 67 to sit tied for fourth.

He sits three back from leader Jhonattan Vegas, who recorded five birdies on the last six holes to move two clear late in the day. The Venezuelan has just one top 25 finish at a major and leads a major for the first time in his career.

Aussie Cameron Davis and American Ryan Gerard share second at five-under.

In the second group to begin their rounds, at 7.05am local time, Fox started with a birdie at the par-five 10th, before adding two more at 13 and 14 to sit three-under through his first nine.

On his second nine, Fox added three more birdies in four holes, along with his first bogey coming at his 15th hole of the day. He shared the lead at five-under with one hole to play before a bogey at the ninth resulted in him carding a 67.

“I played really solid today. It hasn’t been the ideal prep coming in for me, obviously winning last week, being last man in. I literally played 18 holes yesterday and that was the only thing I did preparation-wise, basically, hit a few balls on Tuesday and played one hole before the storm came in,” Fox said after his opening round.

“Obviously knew I was playing well and just tried to get out of my own way and just let it happen. Today I was really happy with how I did that. Kept the momentum going from last week pretty nicely.”

Fox’s round included a chip-in at the third hole to save par, albeit shorter than the one that earned the playoff win at Myrtle Beach.

“That was lob wedge today. It was sand wedge on Sunday. They come in threes. I chipped in on Friday last week, chipped in on Sunday and chipped in today and probably won’t have one for another few months, but that’s all right,” Fox said.

Fox shares fourth with four other players – European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, England’s Aaron Rai, Germany’s Stephen Jaeger and American Alex Smalley, who was an even later addition than Fox, only earning a spot in the field when Sahith Theegala was a late withdrawal with injury.

American Ryder Cup captain and 2011 PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley is a shot back at three-under.

The top of the leaderboard lacks the tournament favourites and big names.

Masters champion Rory McIlroy had a poor day, finishing at three-over in a group with defending champion Xander Schauffele (one-over) and world No 1 Scottie Scheffler (two-under). All three players recorded a double-bogey six at the 16th hole.

McIlroy wasn’t the only big name to struggle. Brooks Koepka (four-over 75), Min Woo Lee (three-over 74), Patrick Cantlay (three-over 74) and Phil Mickelson (eight-over 79) will all need big second rounds to make the weekend.

Fox will begin his second round at 4.30am NZT tomorrow.

PGA Championship leaderboard – Round One

-7 Jhonattan Vegas, Venezuela
-5 Cameron Davis, Australia
-5 Ryan Gerard, USA
-4 Ryan Fox, New Zealand
-4 Luke Donald, England
-4 Alex Smalley, USA
-4 Stephen Jager, Germany

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission.