John Daly fired the best round of his troubled season without even a practice look at the course but it was England’s unheralded Graeme Storm who took the first-round lead at the PGA Championship.
Storm, a 29-year-old European Tour player who worked in a cream-cake factory when golf could not pay the bills, proved he was no cream-puff on Thursday, firing a bogey-free five-under par 65 for a two-stroke lead over Daly after 18 holes.
”It was one of those rounds where I never thought about anything. I just kept trying to enjoy myself,” Storm said. ”I’m sort of tired but this is quite a buzz after the score I shot. I just want to enjoy the moment and play golf.”
Daly, the 1995 British Open and 1991 PGA Championship winner who struggled this year with poor play and personal turmoil, fired a 67 at the $7-million event.
”I have no idea [how I did it],” Daly said. ”It was one of those rounds. I was aggressive off the tee. I didn’t know what else to do.”
Storm began on the back nine and birdied four of his first seven holes then holed a fairway chip at two to swipe the lead but he could not steal the thunder from larger-than-life Daly.
”It’s nice to see John up there. It’s amazing,” said three-time Major winner Ernie Els. ”This course doesn’t suit John’s game at all. Amazing.”
The 41-year-old US ball smasher did not play a practice round at Southern Hills Country Club but blistered the 7 131-yard layout after missing the cut in nine events this year and withdrawing from four others.
”I mainly did it because I didn’t want to have any expectations,” Daly said. ”I’ve been hitting it good. I just haven’t been able to score. I haven’t played badly. I feel like I’m hitting the ball well.”
Daly made three birdies on the front nine, added another at the par-5 13th but took his lone bogey at the par-4 16th, finding the rough and blasting out but missing a long par putt.
”I would rather make a bad score being aggressive than a bad score playing conservative,” Daly said.
Daly battled rib and shoulder injuries and played with marks on his cheeks in June at Memphis, saying his fourth wife Sherrie had attacked him with a steak knife, a claim she later denied.
Daly’s only US triumph since his last Major title came at the 2004 Buick Invitational. His first career triumph was at the 1991 PGA when he was the last alternate to make the field and also had no practice round.
World number one Tiger Woods, trying to defend the PGA crown he won last year at Medinah and capture his 13th Major title, birdied three of his first six holes but stumbled home to finish on one-over 71.
Woods, who began on the back nine, followed his early birdie binge with bogeys at 18, two and four. He pulled one back with a birdie at the par-5 fifth but was undone with bogeys at seven and eight.
”I hit the ball better than my score indicates,” Woods said. ”Sometimes I hit the ball in the wrong spots.
”The wind is all over the place. It’s swirling. It’s making things more difficult. It gets in the trees and gets gusty and plays tricks on all of us.”
Woods joked that Daly’s lead ”must be from all the practice rounds he played here”, but even Woods takes Daly’s game seriously.
”We all know JD is extremely talented. Once he gets going, he gets going. He plays very aggressively,” Woods said. ”When he gets going he can shoot in good numbers.”
Storm made the most of the special invitation he received to play in the year’s final Major after winning his first title last month at the French Open. He could become the fourth first-time Major winner this year.
”It’s the first round of a Major,” he said. ”Everybody is still getting a feel for the course.”
Topping the scoreboard is a good omen for Storm since first-round leaders have won five of six Majors played at Southern Hills, although no European has won a PGA Championship since Scottish-born Tommy Armour in 1930.
US veteran Arron Oberholser, whose only PGA triumph came last year at Pebble Beach, and countryman Woody Austin, who won his third career PGA crown in June at Memphis, shared third on 68 with Canada’s Stephen Ames.
British Open winner Padraig Harrington, England’s Lee Westwood, Australians Geoff Ogilvy and John Senden, Colombia’s Camillo Villegas, Austrian Markus Brier and American Mark Wilson were on 69.
”I’m happy with it,” Ireland’s Harrington said. ”I’m in good position, but it’s how I play the next three rounds.”
Westwood took a double-bogey at eight or he would have matched Daly.
”I could have shot 65. I gave myself a lot of chances,” Westwood said. ”The double bogey at eight cost me. Turned a 67 into a 69.”
Spain’s Sergio Garcia and South African Retief Goosen were on 70. South Korean KJ Choi was with Woods on 71. Els, Aussie Adam Scott and Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie were on 72 with US star Phil Mickelson on 73.
The par-3 sixth was the undoing for Argentine hopes. US Open champion Angel Cabrera took a 10 there. Andres Romero, a late British Open contender, took a six on the hole. Both finished on 81. — AFP
