Day 1 at the 2021 PGA Champs

Posted on May 21, 2021
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Windy conditions were the order of the day, which will drive any moisture out of this intimidating layout. The Ocean Course will get firmer and firmer - day 1 could possibly be the easy scoring day. That's a scary thought. Players in the morning wave were able to make some inroads into red numbers - and the first man to post 69 was Viktor Hovland, who played with his usual coolness in dealing with some high pressure. Thereafter he was joined by BK, who started with a double bogey 6, but then righted the ship. Ultimately he was joined by 5 others - who sit just 2 back. The afternoon could have gotten messy - but the greens stayed true and the ball striking machine as discussed in the build up delivered! Corey Conners proceeded to stripe it all day - even down the notorious stretch of 14 to 18, which he played in 2 under. A 6-birdie 67 was due reward for his efforts. He showed glimpses of this ability at Augusta and his big win is coming. Conners set the bar - but the benchmark was Even, and there are a host of players who would be very pleased with their work with a total of 30 players under par after day 1. Many big games never made this mark. A morning best of 69 appeared to be good enough for a share of the lead for most of the afternoon, except for one lone warrior. In the morning, when scoring was best, the most under par at any point was only 4 under - a few players getting there early on, but like magic all of those players were repelled from the top. Some more than most, which would break them mentally. Matt Jones got chirpy at 4 under then played the last 4 in 5 over for a 73. Stenson did a little better by playing the last 5 in 4 over, but signed for a 73 too. They were leading with 4 to play in their opening rounds! The defending champ Collin looked solid in posting 70. There were nice scores for some of the older champions too. Lefty, strolled home in 2 under, while Padraig signed for a 71. There was a string of big numbers from the world’s best, specifically DJ 76, JT and Rors 75. They will be staring upward at the cutline when they head out early to start round 2. All them struggled to keep it online and probably joined the search for their games in the bin after the round. Shot of the Day There were a few eagles and near aces, but Zalatoris stood tall and showed off his irons with a long hole out for an eagle 2 on # 6. He is just deadly with them this year. Off to fast start was Cantlay who bagged 2 eagles on day 1, one of which was a beauty of a hole out with the wedge! There were other chip in and monster putts as the course gave the players their moments, before taking it away. The finishing stretch at Kiawah Island is like a scene from a horror film. 14, 15, 17 and 18 are just brutes. This tested all the players on the way home and claimed many scalps including Jones and Stenson early on, then claiming Homa later on, who played the last 4 in 6 over after also arriving at the 15th at 1 under. punter Picks Top Bucket: Xander, Rors and JT dominated at the top - picked 58% of the time and all of those punters were moaning all day, with none of the players under par. Interestingly, every single one of the Top 15 found a home - with Hideki, Webb and Tyrrell all picked once each. 2nd Bucket: Jordan (as expected) was miles ahead in popularity, followed by Berger, Cam and Ancer. Cam and Ancer are definitely part of a developing crop of youngsters with big things expected. The 4 of them were picked 64% of the time. Berger delivered with a 77, whilst none of these favourites were able to go under par. Spare a thought too for the lone punter who chose Scotty and his miserable 76! It was carnage. 3rd Bucket: This bottom bucket is wide open! 35% of teams picked one of JRose, Wallace, Lowry and 2011 champ Keegan. Rosie was the clear favourite, but for the rest it was a fair spread - with 38 players selected for the bottom bucket. Keegan’s fans were well rewarded, including the majorpunter leaders. It’s fair to say that our popular picks were not the most successful based on the below stats: Stats: Bucket 1: Xander 21%, Rors 20%, JT 17% , Rahmbo 10% & DJ 7%. (None under par!) Bucket 2: Jordan 31%, Berger 12% Cam 11%, Ancer 9% & Zala 4%. (1 of these are under par!) Bucket 3: Rosie 13%, Wallace 8%, Lowry 8%, Keegan 6% & Woodland 5%. (2 of these are under par!) For a full view of the scores head to the PGA Champs Leaderboard majorpunter Leaderboard: