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SPORTS Friday 11 august 2017
Kisner, Olesen open with 67s on fast greens at PGA

By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) —
Jordan Spieth began his
quest for the career Grand
Slam by not making a putt
longer than 5 feet. What
helped was that Quail Hol-
low punished just about
everyone at some point
Thursday in the PGA Cham-
pionship.
Kevin Kisner and Thorb-
jorn Olesen of Denmark
emerged as the top survi-
vors on a course with some
of the fastest, scariest
putting surfaces the PGA
Championship has ever
seen. And both had to
watch lengthy birdie putts
creep into the cup on the
18th hole to share the lead
at 4-under 67.
For all the talk about this
7,600-yard course favoring
the big hitters, the shortest
club in the bag turned out
to be just as valuable.
“Any time you have a putt
down grain, downhill ... we
just tap it and hope it stops
by the hole,” Jon Rahm
said after a 70.
Spieth is among the best Kevin Kisner hits from the fairway on the 18th hole during the first round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Quail Hol-
putters in golf, especially low Club Thursday, Aug. 10, 2017, in Charlotte, N.C.
from long range. On con-
secutive holes, he ran long That’s the way Kisner ap- Olesen picked up birdies short putt to make double a good day off the tee.
putts some 10 feet by the proached it. on most of the same holes, bogey. He failed to birdie That was his main concern.
cup and made bogey. He It helps that he grew up in and he finished with a 30- the par-5 15th and closed As for the pressure of trying
saved his round with two the South and loves Bermu- foot birdie that also sound- with three pars for a 72. to get the final leg of the
late birdies for a 1-over 72 da greens. Given the size of ed like an accident. Hideki Matsuyama, Dustin Grand Slam?
and still was just five shots Quail Hollow, Kisner drew “It was a little bit of a safe Johnson and Jason Day “I don’t think I was as free
behind. up a simple plan. He identi- shot into the green,” he were among those at 1-un- rolling as I thought I would
The 24-year-old Texan fied four or five holes where said. “That’s what can hap- der 70. be, as you can tell by some
would become the sixth, he could make birdie, and pen on this golf course. Quail Hollow played to frustration,” he said. “If I
and youngest, player to he played for par every- When you play safe into an average score of 74.7, would have shot 1 over
complete the Grand Slam where else. the greens, you give your- making the PGA Champi- and didn’t strike it well and
if he were to win the PGA “I birdied them all today,” self very tricky putts, like the onship look like the tough- everything was average, it
Championship. Kisner said. “Make a lot of one I had — downhill, left- est test of the year in the would have been fine. But
U.S. Open champion pars, and get to a par 5 or to-right. It was very, very majors. The PGA Champi- when I had the chances
Brooks Koepka led five one of those short par 4s, I fast. But it was just a very onship typically features that I had and I just couldn’t
players at 68. Koepka can do my wedge game good roll. So it was nice to good scoring because it’s get the ball to go in on the
missed a half-dozen putts and get it to 10 or 12 feet. see that one drop.” held in August when wa- greens, that is when I get
from 12 feet or closer, and That’s my plan. Other than Rickie Fowler made plenty ter has to be kept on the the most frustrated I can
while it looked as though that, I’m playing for par.” of birdies, and he needed greens to keep them from get out there.”
he hit the ball well enough The 18th was not one of them to offset his triple bo- dying. At least he was still in the
to go low at Quail Hollow, the birdie holes he had in gey on the sixth hole. The club switched to Ber- game.
he wasn’t the least bit frus- mind, especially with his Rory McIlroy, the betting muda grass, and with the Phil Mickelson failed to
trated. ball nestled in the Bermu- favorite coming into the undulation on the greens, make a single birdie — the
“It’s going to test your pa- da rough 205 yards from week because of his two it became a beast to play. second straight major that
tience one way or anoth- the pin. Kisner thought the victories at Quail Hollow, The 67s were the highest has happened — and shot
er,” Koepka said. “That’s grass was thin enough be- was motoring along just score to lead the opening a 79, his worst score ever in
just a major. You’ve got hind the ball to get a 5-iron fine when he birdied the round of the PGA Champi- the PGA Championship. Er-
to stay patient. You can’t on it, and from there it was 10th hole to reach 2 under, onship since Matt Kuchar nie Els, who might be play-
make doubles out here. a matter of judging how just two shots behind. One shot 67 at Whistling Straits in ing his final PGA, matched
That’s the big thing. Make much it would bounce. It swing changed everything. 2010. his worst score in the cham-
sure the worst score you ran up to the green about He hooked his tee shot into Spieth failed to take ad- pionship with an 80. He also
make is a bogey and give 20 feet away, and he used the water on the reachable vantage, and while he shot 80 when he was 22
yourself a couple of good that rhythmic putting stroke par-4 14th, had to drop in could appreciate they playing his first one at Bel-
chances on the easier to trickle it into the cup. nasty rough and missed a were tough to putt, he had lerive in 1992.q
holes.”