When play ended in Round 1 of the 108th PGA Championship, a logjam of seven players shared the lead at 3-under 67 and Aronimink Golf Club was looking like the George Washington Bridge at rush hour on a Friday night.
A whopping 33 players were within two of lead after Round 1, 48 were within three, and 92 within five.
If you are thinking those have to be major championship records, give yourself a gold star. They are.
At 3-under, it is also the highest leading score after Round 1 of a PGA Championship since 2008.
That one of those seven tied for the lead after Round 1 is Scottie Scheffler was owed to a brilliant day off the tee. The world No. 1 found 13 of 14 fairways, and that was tied for the best in that category.
“Definitely the best start I’ve gotten off to this year,” said Scheffler after his 3-under 67 gave him a share of the lead with Aldrich Potgeiter, Stephan Jaeger, Min Woo Lee, Ryo Hitsatsune, Martin Kaymer, and Alex Smalley.
With Jaeger having shot 3-under 67 earlier in the day, Kaymer was told that only one other time had two Germans been in the top five at the end of a major championship round.
The 2010 PGA Champion was intrigued. “Who was that?” Kaymer asked.
The answer: The 2001 Open Championship at Royal St. Lytham when Bernhard Langer and Alex Cejka shared the lead.
