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Brooks Koepka Outduels Tiger Woods in Opening Round

By Kathlene Bissell

FARMINGDALE, NEW YORK - MAY 16: Brooks Koepka of the United States and Tiger Woods of the United States walk from the eighth tee during the first round of the 2019 PGA Championship at the Bethpage Black course on May 16, 2019 in Farmingdale, New York. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
FARMINGDALE, NEW YORK - MAY 16: Brooks Koepka of the United States and Tiger Woods of the United States walk from the eighth tee during the first round of the 2019 PGA Championship at the Bethpage Black course on May 16, 2019 in Farmingdale, New York. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /
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Tiger Woods and Brooks Koepka teed off alongside Francesco Molinari this morning. Heading into it, many wondered who would win the battle between Woods and Koepka. The answer was resounding.

“He hit a couple loose tee shots today that ended up in good spots, but I think that was probably the highest score he could have shot today,” Tiger Woods said to media about Brooks Koepka and his 63 in the first round of the PGA Championship.“ He left a few out there with a couple putts that he missed. But it could have easily been a couple better.”

Better?  Better would have tied a major championship single round record score of 62 set by Branden Grace in the third round of the 2017 British Open.

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Koepka agreed.

“I didn’t take care of the par-5s, didn’t birdie any of the par-5s. That was disappointing because I felt like you know those are holes you should be able to birdie,” he said to media after round one.

Making birdie at those two would have given him a 61 instead of a 63.

“The second hole today, my 11th hole, I missed about a five-footer. That would have been nice to shoot 60. I guess that would have been pretty good,” Brooks Koepka added.

While the first round by Brooks Koepka was historic, Woods’ round wasn’t anything to write home about.  But he fought back after a poor start.

He began with a double bogey on 10th hole, due to a drive that found the edge of the right rough.  Two subsequent shots got him over the green on the fringe, and he needed three more to complete the hole according to Shotlink.

“It was a good drive and ended up in a bad spot, and I compounded the problem with trying to use the backboard behind the hole there and missing a putt I should have made,” he admitted.

Woods also butchered the par 3 17th, taking another double with a tee shot that landed in the front most greenside bunker followed by a bunker shot that failed to get onto the putting surface.

On the plus side, Woods hit 10 of 14 fairways.

The up and down nature of his score reflected the challenging nature of Bethpage Black.

“I felt like it’s not that hard to make bogeys out here, but it’s hard to make birdies,” Woods said. “When I had a few opportunities there with short irons, I played aggressively and was able to get them in there where I had makeable putts, and otherwise 30, 40 feet away and move on.”

The highlight of his round was an eagle at the 4th hole, which was his 13th hole, but he gave up those shots and more by making bogeys at the on three of his four final holes.

“I felt like I was getting back into the round. I fought my way back, and I had two double bogeys in through there and was still able to get it to under par for the day,” he said about his play during the middle of the round. “Unfortunately, I had a couple three-putts there and hit a bad chip there at 8 and left myself in a bad spot.”

Woods’ demeanor was more upbeat than his score might have indicated.

“We’ll see what the golf course offers up tomorrow. It changed quite a bit from when we played this morning to this afternoon. The greens got a lot faster. We’ll see how it dries out over the next few days,” he said.

Next. PGA Championship 2019: Five players who could win their first major. dark

Tiger Woods, Brooks Koepka, and Francesco Molinari tee off at 1:49 PM on Friday starting on the first tee.

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