LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Xander Schauffele saw no reason to change anything in his swing or think any less of his golf game after yet another close call at ending two years without winning a tournament. The idea was to “keep chugging along.”
Thursday looked more like a sprint — right into the PGA Championship record book.
Schauffele seized on soft, still conditions that hardly resembled a major championship test for a 9-under-par 62, the lowest score in PGA Championship history, and matched another record for the tournament by building a three-shot lead after the opening round at vulnerable Valhalla Golf Club.
The number of players who broke par was 64, the most ever for a first round at the PGA Championship. The field of 156 players produced 542 birdies and seven eagles on the spongy turf and forgiving greens, with cheers coming from all corners of the course.
It still wasn’t enough to get Schauffele, a 30-year-old San Diego native who oozes California chill, all that excited. He shot an 8-under 62 in the first round of the U.S. Open last year at Los Angeles Country Club — so did Rickie Fowler — and finished that tournament tied for 10th.