Branden Grace is the first South African under way on Friday as he finds himself well off the pace in the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.
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With two top-five finishes in his last two starts at this event, Grace slumped to a +6 77 on Thursday, despite calm conditions. Now he sets about trying to rectify the damage, and will need to post a low number if he wants to hang around this weekend.
Grace gets his second round under way at 13:45 SA time, some forty minutes before the marquee group of Fowler, Rahm and McIlroy begin their day.
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It is the American who leads the battle in that circle, after recovering from a front nine triple bogey to post 69, one shot better than Rahm, who played the Green Mile in +2. And despite his rich history at the venue, Rory McIlroy could only muster a 73 on Thursday, meaning he will need to come out firing if he wants to get close to the overnight leaders – Kevin Kisner and Thorbjorn Olesen – at four-under-par.
Louis Oosthuizen was the only South African to break par on Thursday and sits well-placed inside the top 20 after round one. He continues his championship tilt at 19:40 alongside JB Holmes and Danny Willett.
Selected tee times:
13:45 Perez, Grace, Bjorn
14:25 Fowler, Rahm, McIlroy
18:55 Matsuyama, Poulter, Els
19:00 Kang, Frittelli, Bryan
19:25 Casey, Schwartzel, Watson
19:35 Koepka, Spieth, Garcia
19:40 Oosthuizen, Willett, Holmes
19:45 Day, Johnson, Stenson
20:10 Wiesberger, Smith, Stone
20:30 Stroud, Sterne, VermeerÂ
Opening round scores of the PGA Championship:
67 – Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN) 33-34, Kevin Kisner (USA) 33-34
68 – Grayson Murray (USA) 36-32, Brooks Koepka (USA) 32-36, Gary Woodland (USA) 32-36, Chris Stroud (USA) 35-33, D.A. Points (USA) 34-34
69 – Tony Finau (USA) 34-35, Patrick Reed (USA) 32-37, Paul Casey (ENG) 35-34, Jim Herman (USA) 33-36, Bud Cauley (USA) 34-35, Rickie Fowler (USA) 34-35, Brian Harman (USA) 31-38
70 – Hideki Matsuyana (JPN) 35-35, Kang Sung (KOR) 36-34, Tommy Fleetwood (ENG) 34-36, Jason Day (AUS) 33-37, Dustin Johnson (USA) 34-36, Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) 37-33, Graham DeLaet (CAN) 35-35, Pat Perez (USA) 35-35, Jon Rahm (ESP) 33-37, Jordan Smith (ENG) 36-34
71 – Zach Johnson (USA) 35-36, Hideto Tanihara (JPN) 35-36, Satoshi Kodaira (JPN) 36-35, Adam Scott (AUS) 35-36, An Byeong-Hun (KOR) 36-35, Matt Kuchar (USA) 35-36, Ryan Moore (USA) 34-37, Sean O’Hair (USA) 38-33
72 – Chris Wood (ENG) 37-35, Jordan Spieth (USA) 36-36, David Lingmerth (SWE) 37-35, Scott Hend (AUS) 34-38, Yuta Ikeda (JPN) 35-37, Patrick Cantlay (USA) 36-36, Anirban Lahiri (IND) 34-38, Rory McIlroy (NIR) 34-38, Kevin Chappell (USA) 33-39, Cody Gribble (USA) 33-39, Chez Reavie (USA) 36-36
73 – Dylan Frittelli (RSA) 35-38, Justin Thomas (USA) 36-37, Francesco Molinari (ITA) 36-37, Lee Westwood (ENG) 38-35, Scott Brown (USA) 36-37, Kelly Kraft (USA) 35-38, Danny Willett (ENG) 38-35, Bernd Wiesberger (AUT) 36-37, K.T. Kim (KOR) 37-36, James Hahn (USA) 35-38, Richard Sterne (RSA) 38-35, Soren Kjeldsen (DEN) 36-37, Shaun Micheel (USA) 37-36, Daniel Berger (USA) 36-37, Graeme McDowell (NIR) 37-36, Wang Jeung-Hun (KOR) 37-36, Bryson DeChambeau (USA) 37-36, Li Haotong (CHN) 36-37
74 – Shane Lowry (IRE) 38-36, Alex Noren (SWE) 36-38, Peter Uihlein (USA) 37-37, Ian Poulter (ENG) 35-39, Wesley Bryan (USA) 38-36, Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 36-38, John Daly (USA) 36-38, Robert Streb (USA) 37-37, Henrik Stenson (SWE) 36-38, Keegan Bradley (USA) 37-37, J.B. Holmes (USA) 38-36, Xander Schauffle (USA) 35-39, Brendan Steele (USA) 37-37, Omar Uresti (USA) 35-39, Jason Dufner (USA) 40-34, Jonas Blixt (SWE) 37-37, Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP) 38-36, Jamie Lovemark (USA) 37-37
75 – Sergio Garcia (ESP) 35-40, Vijay Singh (FIJ) 35-40, Charley Hoffman (USA) 37-38, Nicolas Colsaerts (BEL) 38-37, Cameron Smith (AUS) 35-40, Lucas Glover (USA) 39-36, Jason Kokrak (USA) 38-37, Russell Henley (USA) 36-39, Marc Leishman (AUS) 35-40, Steve Stricker (USA) 38-37, Ross Fisher (ENG) 36-39, Bill Haas (USA) 35-40, Alexander Levy (FRA) 39-36, Luke List (USA) 37-38, Ryan Fox (NZL) 41-34
76 – Daniel Summerhays (USA) 36-40, Kyle Stanley (USA) 39-37, Kenny Pigman (USA) 40-36, Matt Dobyns (USA) 39-37, Joost Luiten (NED) 35-41, Luke Donald (ENG) 37-39, Webb Simpson (USA) 38-38, Yang Yong-Eun (KOR) 35-41, Billy Horschel (USA) 39-37, Matthew Fitzpatrick (ENG) 37-39, Danny Lee (NZL) 37-39, Justin Rose (ENG) 35-41, Jim Furyk (USA) 37-39
77 – Pablo Larrazabal (ESP) 38-39, Russell Knox (SCO) 40-37, Bubba Watson (USA) 36-41, William McGirt (USA) 38-39, Brian Smock (USA) 37-40, Rod Pampling (AUS) 41-36, Hudson Swafford (USA) 37-40, Greg Gregory (USA) 37-40, Branden Grace (RSA) 38-39, Tyrrell Hatton (ENG) 39-38, Martin Laird (SCO) 37-40
78 – Dave McNabb (USA) 36-42, Charles Howell III (USA) 38-40, Andy Sullivan (ENG) 38-40, Davis Love III (USA) 38-40, Emiliano Grillo (ARG) 38-40, Mackenzie Hughes (CAN) 38-40, Jhonattan Vegas (VEN) 39-39, J.J. Wood (USA) 37-41
79 – Rich Berberian (USA) 38-41, Padraig Harrington (IRL) 37-42, Patrick Rodgers (USA) 38-41, Thomas Pieters (BEL) 40-39, Brandon Stone (RSA) 40-39, Thomas Bjorn (DEN) 39-40, Phil Mickelson (USA) 39-40, Adam Hadwin (CAN) 40-39, Jamie Broce (USA) 40-39, Alex Beach (USA) 39-40, Kevin Na (USA) 40-39
80 – Ernie Els (RSA) 40-40, Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR) 43-37, Song Young-Han (KOR) 39-41, Mike Small (USA) 40-40, Thongchai Jaidee (THA) 42-38, Chris Kirk (USA) 38-42
81 – Adam Rainaud (USA) 40-41, Jimmy Walker (USA) 39-42, Chris Moody (USA) 42-39
82 – Rich Beem (USA) 40-42, Ryan Vermeer (USA) 43-39, Rod Perry (USA) 39-43, Paul Claxton (USA) 40-42
83 – Scott Hebert (USA) 40-43
84 – Stuart Deane (USA) 41-43, David Muttitt (USA) 42-42, Jaysen Hansen (USA) 41-43
WD – Andrew Johnston (ENG) 39-39, Kim Si-Woo (KOR) 40-39
Photo: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images
