Day 1 at the 2025 PGA Champs
Posted on May 16, 2025
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Thursday at The PGA Champs
See your TEAM's majorpunter score.
The conditions at Quail Hollow were soft from the rain that drenched the course. You would have expected Birdies and Eagles galore, but not to be. It was a tough day for most of the leading lights in the game.
Jonny Vegas set the early pace with a remarkable 64 in the afternoon session, closely followed by the Aussie Davis who is normally assocated with the faster running fairways of the Sandbelt.
Loooook set the early pace and was followed by nemesis, Keegs, both captains of the Ryder Cup teams, impressed with bogey-free rounds of 4 under and 3 under, respectively.
There is stash of players at 4 under and many will not recognise any of the leaders, nor believe that they can last the distance.
The famed Green Mile did tame a few of the best. Rory suffered a crippling double bogey after finding the water. The same fate fell on Scottie, but managed to recover and finish the round at even par.
Shot of the Day
It was a tough day yesterday for the majority of players, though an ACE appeared out the blue for Eric Cole who used it to vault him into red numbers.
Round of the Day
Jonny Vegas shot a sensational 64 with birdie binges on the front and back 9s. Some sensational play all round, but especially on the greens.
Performance of the Day
PGA Champs debutant Ryan Gerard shot a 66, sharing the lead at one point at 7 under before Jonny Vegas surged to the top with a 65.
The Leaders
The Chasers
majorpunter Picks
Top Bucket:
The Big 3 dominated picks and felt like a trojan horse. The real money was everywhere ele. The cutline feels a long way away for Rory & X plus a few others. Hardly an admiral showing.
2nd Bucket:
Aberg came good for his extended following, which was good to see, especially considering the mayhem at the top.
Jordan & Tommy are both still on the course, delivering very contrasting days, with Tommy looking in fine fettle to contend again in a major at 2 under par.
3rd Bucket:
Picks here were evenly spread, Cambo & OtherCam leading the scoring rights in these early days, but there is still much golf left.
Bottom Bucket:
Most of the leaderboard is filled with players from the bottom bucket, but not amongst the picks. BK dominated the picks as expected and delivered nothing. It was a day of if only with so many others leading from the start.
Stats:
Bucket 1: Rory 43%, Scottie 32%, Bulk 17% & JT 5% (1 under par)
Bucket 2: Aberg 35%, Lowry 26%, Corey 17% & Sepp 10% (1 under par)
Bucket 3: Hov 21%, Jordan 20%, JDay 14% & Im 12% (1 under par)
Bucket 4: BK 16%, Cambo 9%, Burmy 9% & Min Woo 8% (none are under par)
For a full view of the scores head to https://www.pgachampionship.com/leaderboard and majorpunter leaderboard.
majorpunter Leaderboard:
| Rank | Team | Punter | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PokeyAU2 | Preston Barnes | -10 |
| 2 | Green Machine | Shaun Manning | -9 |
| 3 | Loose Balls | Allen Walton | -8 |
| 4 | FoxHollow | Mark Fox | -7 |
| T5 | Vleis | Morne Van Vuuren | -6 |
| T5 | Gunslingers | Pete Grey | -6 |
| T5 | Finnorn | David Finnorn | -6 |
| T5 | Three Putters | Keith Van Niekerk | -6 |
| T5 | Stiffies | Chris Van der Walt | -6 |
| 10 | The Outsiders | James Bisset | -5 |
Day 1 is all about keeping yourself in it and not getting too excited in the chase for your first major. There were some good scores for the punters and plenty of scores under par on the LEADERBOARD.
PokeyAU2 is leading in the early stages but with plenty of time to go. Only 1 shot back is the Green Machine. Its a long journey ahead with plenty of chasers, including a stash at 6 under.
majorpunter Bottomboard:
| Rank | Team | Punter | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| T96 | Block Party | Frank Nelms | +8 |
| T96 | Stumpdogs | Graeme Marais | +8 |
| T96 | Hot Shots | Graeme Cook | +8 |
| T99 | Tomoose & his Guns | Thomas East | +9 |
| T99 | Champions | Arno Theron | +9 |
| T99 | Little General | Graeme East | +9 |
| T99 | Rory's Playground | James Bisset | +9 |
| T99 | Harrison Smith | Harrison Smith | +9 |
| T99 | Conquering the Quail | Greg Dane | +9 |
| T99 | tristan Kempenaar | Tristan Kempenaar | +9 |
The bottomboard has some big numbers with a few punters at 9 over, all tied up, all linked to the same picks of Rory and co.
It’s a long road to go and with changing weather in the mix, there is still a lot of unknown. With major champions in your team, we know they can flip the switch and turn it around.
For more news and information head over to majorpunter.
Looking forward to a Friday with so much in anticipation.