The opening round of the 107th PGA Championship Thursday was a rollercoaster, best viewed through the eyes of PGA of America Teacher & Coach of the Year Jason Baile.
Unheralded Jhonattan Vegas, with a prior major championship history of 10 missed cuts in 16 starts and no top-20 finishes, surged to the top of the leaderboard with a 7-under 64. Ryan Gerard, a North Carolina native making his PGA Championship debut, carded a 5-under 66 to tie Australia’s Cam Davis, who has struggled in recent majors.
The day also saw the world’s top three players – Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and Xander Schauffele – each record a double-bogey on the same hole. Meanwhile, Luke Donald, ranked 871st, navigated the course without a single bogey for a 67.
Baile, the PGA Director of Golf at Jupiter Hills Club in Tequesta, Fla., was on hand at Quail Hollow, supporting several of his PGA Tour students. He watched Gerard, 25, post his impressive 66, only marred by bogeys on the final two holes.
“Not at all surprised,” Baile said of Gerard’s performance. “Ryan has an incredible attitude. He takes the blinders off on big stages. Ryan just does Ryan very well.”
Gerard briefly held the solo lead before Davis matched his 66. As twilight descended, Vegas birdied five of his last six holes to seize the overnight advantage. In his previous 18 rounds at the PGA Championship, Vegas had only broken 70 three times and never shot better than 68.
Baile also followed the fortunes of Bud Cauley, another player he coaches. Cauley birdied Nos. 14 and 15 to reach 1-under, a testament to his efforts to return to the PGA Tour after injury. However, his round ended with a disappointing bogey-bogey-double bogey finish on the challenging “Green Mile” of holes 16-18.
While Gerard fielded interviews, Baile admitted his emotions were mixed. “I feel for Bud. I need to catch up,” he said. Later, after Gerard departed, Baile watched Lucas Glover finish his round and had a positive conversation with Cauley. “He was in good spirits. He knew that he had played better than his score,” Baile said. “I just wanted him to know how proud I was of him.”
The day featured 15 eagles, including a dramatic hole-in-one by Eric Cole on the 186-yard fourth hole using a 7-iron. “I was right on the edge on whether I had enough club,” Cole said, after his 1-under 71. Sepp Straka also recorded an unlikely eagle, holing his second shot from 186 yards on the par-4 third.
Jordan Spieth’s quest for the career grand slam took a hit with a back-nine 40 and a 76, leaving him 12 shots off the lead. Phil Mickelson carded an 8-over 79, tying his highest opening round in a PGA Championship, which also occurred at Quail Hollow in 2017. Justin Thomas, the 2017 PGA champion at this course, recovered from being 4-over through five holes with five birdies but bogeyed the last for a 2-over 73, nine strokes back.
The field average for the opening round was 72.757. The par-4 16th proved to be the toughest hole, averaging 4.410 strokes, followed by the par-3 17th at 3.372.
