Can Scottie Scheffler end his round as he opened it? In short, no. His approach to the par-five 18th was a bit messy, plummeting into the rough short of the green. He’s chopped the pitch up onto the putting surface and has just over 13 feet for a closing birdie … but it was squiffy right off the putter face. Still, a very solid tournament opening 67.

The sheer bloody-mindedness of Jon Rahm has been a significant sub-plot of this evening. He scratched four bogeys on his card before the 7th hole. Since then, however, he’s added just one more while circling five birdies and now, on 18, he’s got 4 feet for another and a -1 total of 70. He makes it! Scrappy, often ugly, but full of determination.

Tom Kim wasn’t intimidated by the morning starters, and one in particular, going low. Anything but, in fact. “Well, when you see 9-under in a major championship, you know it’s out there,” he said after his round. “You know it’s definitely gettable. Obviously Xander played really, really well to shoot 9-under but you go, okay, I guess it’s playing pretty gettable and there’s going to be a lot of opportunities out there.”

Collin Morikawa completes a 66. He finds the green at 18 in two and eyes an eagle but his 22 foot putt just slips by the hole. He joins the growing group on -5 which also now includes Thomas Detry who makes a closing par at 9.

-9: Schauffele (F)
-6: Finau (F), Theegala (F)
-5: McIlroy (F), MacIntyre (F), Hoge (F), T. Kim (F), Detry (F), Morikawa (F)

Another disappointing major championship effort from Joaquin Niemann. The Chilean has recorded 12 top 10 finishes in his last 15 starts around the world, including three wins. But this is his 21st major and unlikely to be his first top 10 finish after he carded a 73.

Tom Kim tidies up his par at 18 to complete a 66 and make it a four-way clubhouse share of fourth on -5. It’s the first time he’s gone sub-70 in three PGA Championship starts and you’d hope he improves his previous second round efforts. They read: 77-76-75. Fingers crossed for something better than a 74.

Patrick Cantlay is playing like major championship Patrick Cantlay today. i.e. he’s not contending on level par. He has only four top 10s in 28 starts in the career-defining tournaments which is very underwhelming for a golfer as good as he is. Meantime, par at 16 keeps Scottie Scheffler at -4.

Are you doubting the Thomases? Maybe not tonight. Thomas Detry makes a birdie at the par-five 7th to get back to -5 while Tom Kim finds the middle of the par-five 18th fairway. He has a fairway wood in hand for his approach … and he didn’t catch all of it but he’s in the front greenside bunker. He needs to get up-and-down to hit -6.

Swede Alex Noren is in great form – and is maintaining it at Valhalla. He hasn’t missed a cut since July, has a trio of PGA Tour top three finishes since October and arrived in Louisville off seven straight top 25s. He’s swapped seven birdies and three bogeys in a 67. Tom Hoge has joined Rory McIlroy and Bob MacIntyre in the clubhouse on -5 with a 67 that included eight birdies.

-9: Schauffele (F)
-6: Finau (F), Theegala (F)
-5: McIlroy (F), MacIntyre (F), Hoge (F), T. Kim (17)

When World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler drained his second shot of the day for an eagle you might have been forgiven for thinking he might even be able to walk on water. Cam Smith can.

Three-putt from Scottie Scheffler. He’d apparently done the difficult part on the very long par-three 14th by hitting the heart of the green. But he then took another three shots to find the bottom of the cup from 29 feet. He’s back to -3.

Maverick McNealy makes a birdie at the par-five 10th, getting up and down from the back of the green to reach -2. At least he went for it. He ranks 94th for Going for Green this season on the PGA Tour which is pretty much his career average. So much for any kind of golfing nominative determinism.

Scheffler makes birdie at 14 to return to -4. Meanwhile, back-to-back birdies for Jon Rahm at 13 and 14. He’s still only +1 but has dug deep after that horror start.

-9: Schauffele (F)
-6: Finau (F), Theegala (F)
-5: McIlroy (F), MacIntyre (F)

Five minutes of pure Phil Mickelson. He drains a 34 foot birdie putt at the 14th to get to -1 and then sprays his tee shot at 15 into the trees. He’s made just three top 10 finishes in the last four years on the PGA Tour: second in a WGC event in 2020, winning this event in 2021, second in last year’s Masters. Not a bad trio.

Collin Morikawa has caught fire. He’s drained five birdie putts in his last eight holes, the final three from 41 feet, 20 feet and 18 feet. He’s now on the brutally long par-three 14th … and knocked his approach to 10 feet.

A smile from Jon Rahm. But it’s a wry-ish one. His approach at the short par-four 13th spins back towards the hole and brushes the edge. He’ll have a short putt to get to +2.

Tom Kim (-5) has a sneaky good major championship record. Last year he was 16th in the Masters, 8th in the US Open and 2nd at the Open.

Damon emails: “Who was the worst ever PGA Championship winner?” A reference, perhaps, to the days when the event had a reputation for throwing up unlikely champions. 2003 winner Shaun Micheel would gain many people’s X in a vote no-one wants to win*. The triumph was, in fact, his only win on the PGA Tour. He did win it, though, and he did so with an approach to the final green of stunning quality.

* Actually, I’d quite like to be ranked the worst ever PGA champion.

After a shaky start Collin Morikawa has revived his hopes. The 2020 champion dropped shots at 2 and 5, bounced back with a hat trick of birdies at 6, 7 and 8, and now he adds another par breaker at 12 to reach -2. Meanwhile, Tom Kim plays a beauty to the short par-four 13th. He has a short putt to reach -5.

The putts have started dropping again. From 55 feet for birdie at the par-three 14th for Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard (-2) and then from 11 feet for birdie at the par-four 12th for Korea’s Tom Kim (-4). But Scheffler misses the short chance to join Kim. He stays on -3.

Scottie Scheffler update. Having made the turn in -3 he missed the green in two at the par-five 10th. His chip down a slippery putting surface has left him about 6 feet for birdie

-9: Schauffele (F)
-6: Finau (F), Theegala (F)
-5: McIlroy (F), MacIntyre (F), Detry (12)

Has Xander Schauffele already taken most of the field out of the running? Statistician Justin Ray has written on X: “33 of the last 34 PGA Championship winners have been within 6 of the lead after round 1.” What about the three winners at Valhalla? They were all within two shots of the first round lead (but Bob May, who lost a play-off to Tiger Woods in 2000, was six back).

Matt Fitzpatrick is not alone in having had a wild front nine. Rickie Fowler reached the turn in +1 with a double bogey, three bogeys and four birdies. He was third at Valhalla in 2014 and said afterwards: “That stings because I really felt like I could win this one.” He also threatened to win last summer’s US Open – and did win the Rocket Mortage Classic soon afterwards.

Never mind Xander Schauffele or Scottie Scheffler, Simon McMahon is impressed by tonight’s pub quiz triumph (21.36). He emails: “Congratulations to Chelsea and Steve on their quiz night winnings. That’s a Diet Coke each, or two-thirds of a glass of wine to share. Happy days indeed. Mind you, it’s not the winning that’s important, it’s the taking part. Just ask Jean Van de Velde Doug Sanders Maurice Flitcroft.”

Belgium’s Thomas Detry is on a charge. He’s -4 through 10 and, in effect, leading the afternoon wave. He has 12 top three finishes on the main tours without finding a win and is quite the cosmopolitan: born in Belgium, college in the States, once had a base in Cornwall and now resides in Dubai.

Talking of Englishman, what of Justin Rose? Nathan emails: “11 years on from his only major victory, how are Rose’s chances looking after that first round? Always seemed there or thereabouts in the majors (top 3 finishes in all the majors he hasn’t won!) and would be lovely to see him get one more.” Good news, Nathan. Rose shot a 1-under 70 in the morning wave. He’s actually finished top 30 in 10 of his last 12 tournament starts with five top 10s (including three since 2020). The bad news? He has only one top 30 anywhere since August last year.

A level par front nine of 35 for England’s Matt Fitzpatrick. But that number doesn’t remotely tell the story of his journey to the turn. He made a double bogey at 2, bogey at 4, eagle at 7 and birdie at 9. The big error came when he needed four shots from the greenside bunker on the 2nd, he then made up for it by draining a 19 foot putt on the 598 yard 7th.

Scottie Scheffler rights the ship. A simple birdie at the par-five 7th sees him return to -3. He joins Aaron Rai on that number. Since we mentioned him 45 minutes ago he’s added birdies at 2 and 4, riding those Woosie-at-Valhalla vibes.

Sky Sports commentators just remind us that Taiwan’s CT Pan (-3 through 5) will soon be defending his bronze medal at the Olympics in Paris. But readers Chelsea Selkirk and Steve Bailey are already celebrating third place – in tonight’s pub quiz at Cameron House, a golf resort on Loch Lomond. They’re Scottie Scheffler fans and they won a £10 credit. A bit more on the line for the field this week. But who’s more excited?!?!?

A birdie for Jon Rahm at the par-five 7th. Just the 12 back of the lead now. He did open his Masters victory last year with a four-putt bogey 6 but surely this is too steep a hill even for him? He’s +3.

Beware the injured golfer. Back in 2019 Tony Finau dislocated his ankle in the Masters Par-3 tournament but played the main event after popping it back himself. His playing partner today, Sahith Theegala, revealed after the pair opened with 65s: “I slipped a rib on Saturday the week before the Wells Fargo (two weeks ago). I wasn’t sure I was going to play. I immediately called my chiro and got three really painful adjustments to get it back in place and couldn’t really breathe or move all Saturday and Sunday.”

A steady start from Patrick Cantlay (-1 through 5) has just been halted by the 6th. He’s found water from the tee.

Wolverhampton’s Aaron Rai is making a solid start to his first round. The 29-year-old did play a little county golf for Shropshire, as did Ian Woosnam who spent the first 36 holes in the top 10 at the first PGA Championship held at Valhalla in 1996. Rai is currently -1 through 10 holes. Fun fact: he often keeps his game sharp at a golf course near Bridgnorth that was built by Judas Priest lead guitarist KK Downing.

The sixth has not been kind to Jon Rahm. His tee shot found the fairway but he pulled his approach into deep grass and needed two blows to find the putting surfaces. A fourth bogey of the day is the result. He’s +4 and 13 shots behind the leader.

There’s a touch of the 18th hole on the West Course at Wentworth about the 6th at Valhalla. Not so much in the par (the former is a par-five, the latter a par-four). But both require players to hit tee shots short of a valley and then launch a long approach to the green. The restriction on the intial blow means that on both tests the big-hitters have to keep the head-cover on their driver (and probably grit their teeth in the process).

Finally: a threat to Scottie Scheffler’s calm. The World No. 1 finds sand beside the 467 yard par-four 6th green and splashes out to 10 feet. He shuffles in behind the ball and lines it up outside the right edge … but it doesn’t come back to the hole. A first bogey of the day and he falls back to -2.

Jon Rahm has not got off to a good start. Bogeys at the 2nd, the 4th – and now the 5th. “I don’t think my game (has) any sort of issues,” he insisted earlier this week. “I didn’t play good at Augusta, but so far I haven’t missed a top 10 (on LIV this year).”

Steady from Scheffler since the whizz-bang intro. But at the short par-four 4th he gives himself a good look at a birdie from 13 feet. He holes it! He’s -3 through 4 and closing on the leaders.

-9: Schauffele (F)
-6: Finau (F), Theegala (F)
-5: McIlroy (F), MacIntyre (F)
-4: Kohles (F), Koepka (F), Moore (F)

Talking of Dustin Johnson – he could only manage a 73 today. He finished second in this championship in both 2019 and 2020. Since then he has broken 73 just once once in nine event rounds (including today). He also missed the cut at the Masters last month after rounds of 78-79. DJ has lost his rhythm.

A terrifying prospect thrown out there by Luke Donald on Sky Sports. For the field, that is. He remembers how he enjoyed his career-best season after the birth of his first child. “It grounds you,” he argues. The thing is, Scottie Scheffler doesn’t really need grounding. Donald also reveals that Dustin Johnson watched footage of Scheffler’s opening eagle in the locker room and said that golf would soon catch up with the World No. 1.

Here’s that remarkable introduction from Scottie Scheffler. Just glorious.