Gary Woodland acknowledges the crowd after making a birdie putt on the 17th hole at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis during Thursday's opening round of the PGA Championship.ST. LOUIS - Gary Woodland fell in love with Bellerive Country Club when he first played it a month ago. It's a big golf course he knew would play into the hands of a power hitter. It would be soft from the stifling heat and humidity of summer, allowing him to be aggressive.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Woodland delivered his best performance in a major as the PGA Championship got underway Thursday at Bellerive.
Here's the unexpected part: It was all because of his putter.
Once Woodland settled down while playing in front of so many family members and friends, the Kansas native ran off seven birdies and made five putts from 15 feet or longer for a 6-under-par 64, giving him a one-shot lead over Rickie Fowler in an opening round that otherwise went as advertised. Keep it in the fairway, and low scores were available.
Woodland led 47 players who broke par, with 15 separated by three shots at the top. Tiger Woods was not among them because he put the ball in thick grass and at the bottom of a pond early on before rallying to salvage a 70.
"If you can ball-strike your way around this golf course, you'll walk off thinking it's pretty simple," Jason Day said after a 67. "If you struggle a little bit off the tee, then it obviously makes it harder."
Fowler missed only three fairways and putted for birdie on all but two holes for his 65 in the morning.
Woodland is built like a player who grips and rips it, but the grip that mattered the most was on his putter. After starting work at the British Open with European-based putting specialist Phil Kenyon, Woodland decided to put an oversized grip on his putter Tuesday at Bellerive.
The stroke suddenly felt easy for Woodland. It looked easy, too.
He holed a 15-foot par putt on No. 5 - "It's the first time I'd seen a putt go in," he said - and Woodland was on his way. Even sweeter was playing in front of 100 faces he recognized from over the border in Kansas.
"This is as close as I'll ever play to home," he said. "So it's nice to have the support."
Fowler played in the morning, when the greens were slightly smoother, and made five birdies over his last 11 holes for a 65. It was an important start for Fowler, who turns 30 this year and already is regarded as among the best golfers without a major championship. He has finished second in the Masters, the U.S. Open and the British Open, and he was third in the PGA Championship four years ago.
"It's not something I necessarily worry about," Fowler said. "Keep putting ourselves in position, get in contention we have had plenty of runner-ups. Jack (Nicklaus) had a lot of runner-ups. We'll just keep beating down that door."
Tied for third at 66 were Brandon Stone and Zach Johnson, who won the 2007 Masters and the 2015 U.S. Open.
Dustin Johnson reached 5 under until a few wild drives on the back nine cost him. The world's No. 1 player had to settle for a 67, along with 10th-ranked Day, third-ranked Justin Rose and eight others.
It was more of a struggle for Woods, who was drenched in so much sweat that he changed shirts after 12 shots - that was only two holes and a tee shot. He had to make an eight-foot putt to escape with bogey on No. 10, then dumped a wedge into the water for double bogey on No. 11. Woods was 3 over through seven holes but clawed his way back to par.
"A lot of things could happen. Not a lot them were positive," Woods said. "But I hung in there and turned it around."
Justin Thomas, trying to join Woods as a repeat champion at the tournament, let a good start slip away. He didn't make a putt outside a few feet over the last 12 holes and shot a 69. Jordan Spieth, in his second crack at the career Grand Slam, opened with a double bogey and finished two bad swings off the tee that sent him to a 71.
Spieth was tied for 62nd in a group that included Baylor School graduate Luke List, who missed the cut last year in his first PGA Championship appearance.
The secret for success Thursday was simple: Avoid the rough.
Woodland, who played Division II college basketball for one year at Washburn University in Topeka before switching to golf at the University of Kansas, is among the most powerful, athletic figures in golf. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound 34-year-old had 145 yards to the front on No. 5 and couldn't get it to the green.
"Pretty nasty," he said.
For Woodland, success in the big events has been hard to find. He hasn't registered a top-10 finish in a major, and he hasn't contended in any tournament since winning the Phoenix Open more than six months ago.
The frustration had been in the short game, and Woodland finally had enough at the British Open when his manager hooked him up with Kenyon. They worked briefly then at Carnoustie Golf Links and also last week at Firestone Country Club during the Bridgestone Invitational.
Woodland is starting to see the results.
His longest putt was from 45 feet down the hill at No. 11, followed by a 25-footer on the next hole. He finished off his round with a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-3 16th, and then a pitch-and-run play to tap-in range after reaching the front of the green in two on the 591-yard 17th.
"You work so hard, and you want to see results to back up the work that you've done," he said, "and today was just a step in the right direction."