The PGA Championship is the second major of the year and occasionally gets overlooked between the Masters and the U.S. Open. That’s not the case this

The novelist Vladimir Nabokov once said that "artistic originality has only its own self to copy," and if we're adapting that man's words to the world of golf—I'm confident he would have hated this—we can say of the infamous "Green Mile" at Quail Hollow (holes 16,

The world's top three players were grouped together, and only one — No. 1 ranked Scottie Scheffler — finished under par. Scheffler survived a pair of bogies and a double to card a 2-under 69. Rory McIlroy, meanwhile, had a rough go of it, carding a 3-over 74. Defending champ Xander Schauffele was one better at 2-over.

The PGA Championship did not use the preferred lie rule after the heavy rains of the past few days, and Scottie Scheffler was not very fond of it.

The PGA of America smartly created a mega group for the first two rounds of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, putting together Scheffler, the World No. 1, with the next two men in the rankings, Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele.

McIlroy struggled to a three-over-par 74 to trail clubhouse leaders Cam Davis and Ryan Gerard – a North Carolina native – by eight shots, with Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald surprisingly a shot off the pace alongside Aaron Rai, Ryan Fox, Alex Smalley and Stephan Jaeger.

That news came down at 3:55 p.m. ET on Wednesday. By 1 p.m. ET on Thursday, Smalley had completed his first round with a four-under-par 67, tying the clubhouse lead with Ryan Fox — who is experiencing his own miraculous run over the last week.

A peculiar consensus had crystallized before this 2025 PGA Championship, that within its expansive field of 156 only a handful merited consideration. Rory McIlroy was an understood co-favorite, what with four career triumphs at Quail Hollow,

Rory McIlroy's record at Quail Hollow is beyond impressive but that had no bearing on Thursday in the first round of the PGA Championship where very little went his way in his first major start since completing the career Grand Slam.

Ryan Gerard is the early leader at the PGA Championship. Let's learn more about the former UNC golfer and how he got to the top of the board.

Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world, called mud balls one of the most frustrating issues a professional golfer can experience.