PGA Championship: Gary Woodland jumps out to surprising lead
The PGA Championship’s first round is in the books, with Gary Woodland jumping out to the early lead at Bellerive. Will he be able to back that performance up with a host of big-time challengers close behind?
The PGA Championship is the final major of the year, but the 18-hole leader looked more prepared for the U.S. Open. Decked out in his best red, white and blue outfit, Gary Woodland surprised the field at Bellerive, firing a nearly flawless round of six-under 64.
He holds a one-stroke lead over Rickie Fowler at -5. The duo of Zach Johnson and Brandon Stone are tied for third at 4-under.
Woodland, 34, was easily one of the biggest surprises in St. Louis on Thursday. The Kansas alum got the year off to a fantastic start, notching a pair of top-15 finishes in January before breaking through for the win at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in February.
That victory ended a five-year drought for Woodland on the PGA Tour, and could have been an indicator of a big season to come. Unfortunately, he failed to score another top-25 finish until the Memorial Tournament in early June. In that four month stretch, he missed the cut in six of nine starts.
Despite those struggles, things started to turn around for Woodland at Muirfield Village. He hasn’t missed a cut in his last six events, and he came into Bellerive on the heels of strong finishes at the Canadian Open (T-22) and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational (T-17).
That’s not a slight on Woodland’s game, to be fair. Far from it. Woodland is capable of absolutely mashing the ball off the tee, ranking eighth on TOUR in driving distance. Like most bombers, he has little problem reaching greens, either, as he’s fifth in that metric.
What brought him to the top of this major leaderboard, though, is the same thing that has plagued him for much of the year: his putting. Woodland is 99th on TOUR in strokes gained putting in 2018, but he made basically everything he looked at on Thursday.
Woodland took just 12 putts on the back nine Thursday, and 27 total to get around. The biggest one he dropped came on the par-4 11th. His approach shot from a fairway bunker bounded past the hole, coming to rest some 45 feet away at the back of the green.
Woodland lined it up, struck it firm, and there was never any doubt. The ball found the bottom of the cup for a huge birdie to keep his momentum going.
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The average distance of all of Woodland’s made birdie putts was just over 16 and a half feet. Only three of seven were inside ten feet, with three over 20 feet.
That was the result of some significant work that Woodland has put in on his short game over the past month or so, specifically with putting coach Phil Kenyon. One of the biggest changes, though, came recently, when Kenyon suggested Woodland switch to an oversized putter grip.
He did that on Tuesday, and well, we all saw what happened on Thursday.
"“It’s nice just to see the results,” Woodland said. “You work so hard and you want to see results to back up the work that you’ve done and today was just a step in the right direction.”"
Woodland also mentioned in his post-round interviews that he made it to Bellerive about a month ago to get a feel for the course. Growing up just a few hours west on I-70 in Topeka, Kansas, Woodland is familiar with the summer heat in the region, and said that the turf and course layout definitely suited his aggressive style.
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Considering the fact that conditions don’t seem likely to change much over the next three days, that’s something that could prove problematic for those who are waiting for Woodland to slip up. There’s still a long way to go, but a good boost of early confidence never hurt anybody.