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The Starter: The PGA Championship's muddled opening

From mud balls to a leaderboard void of golf's elite names, the weekend shapes up to be an interesting watch.

🏌️ Jhonattan Vegas led the PGA Championship after the first round with a 7-under 64. Does it really matter who the first-round leader is? Does it matter more that Rory McIlroy shot 75?

🏌️ A number of players, including Scottie Scheffler, criticized the decision not to play preferred lies in the first round of the PGA at soggy Quail Hollow, repeatedly complaining about mud balls. Do you sympathize?

U.S. Pga Championship 2025
Martin Kaymer lets one rip off a damp fairway during Thursday's opening round of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.

🏌️ Are the final three holes at Quail Hollow — called the "Green Mile" — great holes or just plain hard?

🏌️ Why do people – particularly the golf media — feel the need to criticize the PGA Championship as not having an identity? It’s one of the four biggest tournaments in the world. Isn’t that enough?

🏌️ It’s billed as the best field of all the majors, so is the lack of star power on the PGA leaderboard just a coincidence?

🏌️ Sepp Straka, with his victory at the Truist Championship, became the second player with multiple wins in 2025; McIlroy is the other. Is Straka underrated?

🏌️ New Zealand’s Ryan Fox won last week’s OneFlight Myrtle Beach Classic, which got him into the PGA, and he shot a 4-under 67 in the first round. Why was Fox not on the last International Presidents Cup team?

🏌️ This year’s Truist was played at Philadelphia Cricket Club, one of the game’s grand old courses. When Tour players shoot low scores at places like this, it is an embarrassment or a tribute?

🏌️ Former NFL quarterback Sam Bradford qualified to play in the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball. Who knew Bradford was an under-the-radar good player?


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