Here’s a little succour for the folk chasing down Brooks Koepka. The defending champion may have shot 63 yesterday, a near-faultless display only blighted by three missed short putts that could have turned the spectacular into something borderline outlandish. But that doesn’t mean he’s a shoo-in to retain his title quite yet.
Koepka became the ninth player to shoot 63 in the first round of a major. Of the last eight, only two have gone on to win the tournament, Jack Nicklaus at the 1980 US Open, and Ray Floyd at the 1982 PGA. So there is hope for the chasing pack. Although given that Koepka’s last four rounds at the PGA are 63, 66, 66 and 63, hope is a relative concept. Here’s how the leaders stand:
-7: Koepka
-6: Lee
-3: Fleetwood
-2: Lorenzo-Vera, Reavie, List, Kang, Perez
-1: Fowler, Wallace, Cantlay, D Johnson, Spieth, Mickelson, Day, Kim
… and here are the tee times. (All local, add five hours for BST.) Starting at hole 1 …
6.45am: Ryan Vermeer, Adrian Otaegui, Jason Kokrak
6.56am: Alex Björk, Rod Perry, Ross Fisher
7.07am: Eddie Pepperell, Branden Grace, Ryan Palmer
7.18am: Ryan Moore, Joel Dahmen, Thorbjørn Olesen
7.29am: YE Yang, Rich Beem, John Daly
7.40am: Steve Stricker, Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay
7.51am: Sung Kang, Shaun Micheel, Alex Beach
8.02am: CT Pan, Kevin Na, Ryan Armour
8.13am: Danny Willett, Webb Simpson, Zach Johnson
8.24am: Kevin Tway, Brandon Stone, Bronson Burgoon
8.35am: Si Woo Kim, Danny Balin, Tom Lewis
8.46am: Jazz Janewattananond, Tyler Hall, Michael Kim
8.57am: Mikko Korhonen, Craig Hocknull, Jhonattan Vegas
12.10pm: Ben Cook, Scott Piercy, Brian Gay
12.21pm: Thomas Pieters, Patton Kizzire, Adam Hadwin
12.32pm: Brandt Snedeker, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Max Homa
12.43pm: Henrik Stenson, David Lipsky, Richard Sterne
12.54pm: Shane Lowry, Erik Van Rooyen, Tommy Fleetwood
1.05pm: Sergio Garcia, Kelly Kraft, Adam Scott
1.16pm: Charley Hoffman, Louis Oosthuizen, Patrick Reed
1.27pm: Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson, Justin Rose
1.38pm: Xander Schauffele, Hideki Matsuyama, Alex Noren
1.49pm: Brooks Koepka, Francesco Molinari, Tiger Woods
2.00pm: Aaron Wise, Ryan Fox, Shugo Imahira
2.11pm: Julian Suri, Marty Jertson, Martin Trainer
2.22pm: Lucas Herbert, Cory Schneider, Sungjae Im
… and at hole 10 …
6.45am: Michael Thompson, Danny Lee, Justin Bertsch
6.56am: Cameron Champ, Rich Berberian Jr., Lucas Glover
7.07am: Emiliano Grillo, Daniel Berger, Paul Casey
7.18am: Tony Finau, Billy Horschel, Ian Poulter
7.29am: Matt Fitzpatrick, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Gary Woodland
7.40am: Padraig Harrington, Martin Kaymer, Keegan Bradley
7.51am: Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth
8.02am: Pat Perez, Kevin Kisner, Bryson DeChambeau
8.13am: Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Jason Day
8.24am: Satoshi Kodaira, Matt Kuchar, Cameron Smith
8.35am: Corey Conners, Jim Furyk, Marc Leishman
8.46am: Jorge Campillo, Stuart Deane, Chesson Hadley
8.57am: Dylan Frittelli, Andrew Filbert, Kurt Kitayama
12.10pm: Rob Labritz, Beau Hossler, JJ Spaun
12.21pm: Sam Burns, Jeffrey Schmid, Keith Mitchell
12.43pm: Ben An, Jason Caron, Andrew Putnam
12.43pm: John O’Learn, Harold Varner III, Kyle Stanley
12.54pm: Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Justin Harding, Sam Ryder
1.05pm: Vijay Singh, Jason Dufner, Jimmy Walker
1.16pm: Graeme McDowell, Chez Reavie, Brendan Jones
1.27pm: Tyrrell Hatton, Russell Knox, Haotong Li
1.38pm: Lee Westwood, Shaun Norris, Charles Howell III
1.49pm: JB Holmes, Lucas Bjerregaard, Troy Merritt
2.00pm: Joost Luiten, Brian Mackey, Matt Wallace
2.11pm: Casey Russell, Luke List, Abraham Ancer
2.22pm: Craig Bowden, Adam Long, Joaquin Niemann
It’s on!