Luke Donald brought a peashooter to a gun show and proved quite brilliantly that there’s more than one way to slay a quail. How delightfully unexpected.
And yet his mark of four under par, setting him three off the lead held by Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela, was strangely in keeping with an opening day of surprises at the PGA Championship.
That being a first round in which Rory McIlroy ballooned so many drives he might miss the cut, Scottie Scheffler had a tantrum about muddy balls, and six Englishmen were in the top 20.
At the forefront of that cluster stood Aaron Rai, an understated golfer on the rise, and matching his 67 was Donald, aged 47 and one of the shortest hitters in town. The point being, this was never meant to be a place for men like him. Quail Hollow is for the bombers. The bashers. Those who can navigate 7,626 yards with a booming draw off the tee.
Donald? He sent a single drive further than 300 yards in a bogey-free loop and did the rest with guile, nous, and a putter that burned hotter than lava.
Once upon a time, he used those tools to top the world rankings, but that was in 2011 and 2012. Today’s version has failed to make a cut in 2025 and somehow he carded his lowest score on the opening day of a major for 21 years.
Luke Donald shone in the first round of the US PGA Championship on Thursday and shot -4
Europe Ryder Cup captain Donald shot his lowest score on the first day of a major for 21 years
However, Rory McIlroy endured a dismal day and was way off the pace after ending on +3
After day one, Donald sits three off the lead held by Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela (above)
To think, the old boy was only handed a place in this field on the basis of his European Ryder Cup captaincy, and will start his second round seven shots clear of McIlroy, who snubbed the media after finishing three over, and three ahead of Scheffler.
Only Vegas and two men at five under – Ryan Gerard of the US and Australia’s Cam Davis – were better off.
Their collective standing was indicative of a chaotic leaderboard loaded with golfers who, for all their talent, are mostly perceived closer to the rank and file. They are men like Alex Smalley, the first alternate, and Ryan Fox, who only qualified at the weekend.
Joining that duo at four under was Germany’s Stephan Jaeger and Rai, who has blossomed in the past two seasons on the PGA Tour but is yet to finish higher than 19th in a major. Had a 15-footer dropped at the last, Rai, 30, would have held a share of the lead.
Star names? Scheffler was in proximity at two under and he was the best of them. Far better than McIlroy. And even more so than Jordan Spieth on five over in his latest career slam attempt.
Ludvig Aberg and Jon Rahm shot 70, Bryson DeChambeau finished level, Xander Schauffele recorded a 72 and Justin Thomas needed to put one foot in a creek at 18 to grind a 73.
So this was not a day for leading lights. Nor was it one for Justin Rose after back-to-back seconds in majors – he went around in 76. No, it was for guys like Vegas, who birdied five of his final six holes, the last of them from 26 feet. Aged 40, and ranked 70th in the world, he has made only one cut in the past six years at the majors. Great stuff.
But Donald’s place near the front was even more startling – after all, Vegas won on the PGHA Tour as recently as last season.
McIlroy’s round was full of errors and he was unable to back up his form from the Masters
For an illustration of how Donald crafted his way around, consider that he reached only nine greens in regulation and did not drop a single stroke. His touch around those putting surfaces was golden and his play with the blade even sharper.
That meant holing par putts from a combined 30 feet on the first three holes, and he made another save from 10 feet at the last, having visited a greenside bunker. In between, there were four birdies.
He came here to monitor the European players and that will have made encouraging viewing – Matt Fitzpatrick, Bob MacIntyre, Tyrrell Hatton and Rasmus Hojgaard were all at three under, Viktor Hovland was one worse off, and Rai was at his methodical best.
But there would also be a benefit to flipping the dynamic, for them watching the captain, because in a sport in thrall to distance, there will always be a joy in watching scores compiled without a huge weapon off the tee.
Naturally, Donald was as shocked as anyone, especially having missed cuts in 12 of his past 20 tournaments and in all five he has contested this year.
‘Someone just told me it was the lowest first round in a major I’ve had since 2004 or something,’ he said. ‘So you know, obviously I’ve been trending with all the missed cuts coming into this week…
‘But no, it was a pleasant surprise.’
As a quirk, his US Ryder Cup counterpart Keegan Bradley finished nearby on three under par, though he is the world No 19, so 852 rungs higher than Donald.
The challenge here for everyone, beyond the usual battles of a major, were the conditions. After five inches of rain in the past week, the round was played in blazing sunshine, but the PGA of America made itself unpopular by not permitting preferred lies.
Ryan Gerard, who is playing at the tournament for the first time, is tied for second on -5
That was shown when Xander Schauffele and Scheffler both encountered muddy balls in the fairway at the 16th and yanked their approaches into the water – they blamed the organisers for not allowing them to clean and place.
Scheffler, who recovered to a two-under-par 69 after reaching as high as two over, said: ‘I understand how a golf purist would be, “Oh, play it as it lies”. But I don’t think they understand what it’s like literally working your entire life to learn how to hit a golf ball and control it, and all of a sudden due to a rules decision that is completely taken away from us by chance.
‘It cost me possibly two shots on one hole.’
Schauffele, who carded a 72, said: ‘I wouldn’t want to go in the locker room because I’m sure a lot of guys aren’t super happy with sort of the conditions there. It sucks that you’re kind of 50/50 once you hit the fairway.’
For McIlroy, any blame for his 74 ought to go closer to home. Having commenced his round on the par-five 10th hole with an 11-footer for birdie, he made a royal mess of his round. Across his first nine holes, he hit only one fairway, with misses to the left both frequent and costly.
One low point was a missed birdie putt from four feet at the driveable 14th and another eyesore followed at the long 16th, where he slipped on his second shot from deep rough and advanced the ball just 30 yards. Like Scheffler and Schauffele in his group, he carded a double-bogey six.
With only two birdies in his round, we might have to wait for the post-Augusta charge that everyone has anticipated since he shed the Augusta gorilla from his back.
If he is to recover and make the weekend, let alone claim a fifth win on this course, he will need to find something substantially better on Friday.
Donald would no doubt settle for more of the same.