2020 PGA Championship leaderboard breakdown

The major championship of golf of 2019-20 has come to a close this Thursday. It occurred in TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. The 2020 PGA Championship leaderboard is out now and we can dissect it. There have been a lot of sour moments as well as funny and viral moments worth recording from the Round 1 of PGA Championship. Bryson DeChambeau had a slip up after his driver broke and went through a distance on the field. Tiger Woods as usual took the lead for some time with his expert skill. However, the current No.1 golf player, Justin Thomas, along with the top 5 golfers went in for 18 holes and set a score above par. 

In one round, Brendon Todd and Jason Day stood as co-leaders at 5. The latter got to the position with a  bogey-free final nine and day fired a bogey-free 65. There are other PGA Championship contenders behind them including Xander Schauffele, Brooks Koepka, Brendan Steele, and Martin Kaymer.

Let’s dissect the PGA Championship leaderboard after the Round 1 action has been completed. 

T1. (-5) Jason Day

While Day was skillfully maneuvering the entire golf course, he made the bogey-free 65 look easy. He drove it into the tee and showed the confidence of a man who has been delivering quality every time he’s playing golf. He was confident enough to say “Yeah, pretty sound the whole way around,” after he hit the bogey-free 65. There was some excitement too since it was the first bogey-free round that Day faced in a championship. However, Day has led bogey-free major rounds for all golfers back in 2010-2016.

T1. (-5) Brendon Todd

Jason Day had a tidy 65 and Todd went for it too but it was not as neat as Day got it. On his opening nine, he went in for two bogeys and strung together a 3-under-par, bogey-free final nine and reached the top leadership board. Todd was not considered as the favorites to go for this bogey-free but the 35-year-old has won the season twice. His winnings were at Mayakoba Golf Classic and Bermuda Championship. He also went into contention in Memphis. While Todd is not the greatest golfer, he is an underdog and has some magic behind his driver. He got a whopping 3.161 strokes on the field putting. 

T3. (-4) Scottie Scheffler, Brooks Koepka, Martin Kaymer, Bud Cauley, Xander Schauffele, Zach Johnson, Brendan Steele, Justin Rose, Mike Lorenzo-Vera

Getting a T2 finish at WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, Brooks Koepka, who has been PGA Championship winner back to back picked up his skill again though his magic seemed off back in Memphis. He showed control over his drives and finished his rounds with six birdies, using the length as his advantage. Koepka has faced a lot of injuries during 2020 but he seems to be recovering and going for the three-peat threat status this PGA Championship.

T12. (-3) Daniel Berger, Tony Finau, Gary Woodland and the other five

Struggling in the greens at first, they hit a decent 14 fairways. On Thursday, Finau got a great 3-under 67 and he put up a great game to cancel out all the previous inconsistencies in the ground. He could have easily led the PGA Championship leaderboard had he not made a few mistakes at first and if he hadn’t struggled so much with the driver. He still remains in a great position overall.

T20. (-2) Bryson DeChambeau, Tiger Woods, Patrick Reed, Adam Scott, and the other nine

In Round 1, Tiger Woods made an under-par score look really hard. While his back problem is troubling, Tiger Woods was not able to get the distance and he struggled with gaining control. Thus, he bailed out quite early. He only recorded 1.228 strokes. While his struggle seemed quite real and embarrassing for a player of his stature, he finished well. DeChambeau went for a viral and memorable moment since he was leaning on his driver and that just got separated from the shaft. Bryson was 4 under through 10 holes but he faded playing his final 8 holes at 2 over.

T33. (-1) Dustin Johnson among the other 14

At the Memorial Tournament and WD, Johnson got his consecutive 80s but his back kept giving him loads of trouble. At the  St. Jude Invitational, he finished T12 with an opening round of 69. This was a great feat and he started off from this feat in the PGA Championship. He was struggling at first with the putter but he soon got into the drives and got it down 311.5 yards. It was just going behind DeChambeau by a few yards. He was confident at the end and played the final 3 holes at 2 overs.

T49. (E) Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama, Bubba Watson, Tommy Fleetwood, among other 14

While he was going off at No. 10, McIlroy was able to birdie off the first hole and after that, he quickly got into a trench. He was carding bogeys of 12, 13, and 14 and received birdies on the 16 and 18. That was his theme of his final 9 as he missed fairways and left 4- and 5-foot putts. This became his prime weakness throughout the entire day. Rahm was able to go for an even-par and impressed everyone with his dexterity when he completed 2 under on the back 9. He struggled with the bogey  2, 6, and 9.  

The PGA Championship is turning out to be quite exciting. There are a lot of small slip-ups and mistakes and even a player like Tiger Woods seems to be struggling on the greens. This PGA Championship has also produced a great viral moment with the breaking of the driver of DeChambeau which will please golf fans for a long time. The 2020 PGA Championship leaderboard breakdown gives you a fair idea of who is going to make the most out of this PGA Championship. You can also get the live updates of the PGA Championship on the Twitter feed of the PGA Championship.