Lee Westwood stormed into a share of the PGA Championship lead with five birdies in his last six holes on Thursday as four-time winner Tiger Woods ended the opening round a distant nine shots off the pace.
Englishman Westwood, long regarded as one of the best players in the game who has yet to clinch a major title, fired a six-under-par 65 on a calm, muggy day at Valhalla Golf Club to finish joint top with Americans Kevin Chappell and Ryan Palmer. British Open champion Rory McIlroy, the pre-tournament favourite, was lurking ominously just one off the pace after opening with an eight-birdie 66 in the year’s final major.
Westwood rebounded from a double-bogey at the par-four first, his 10th hole of the day, with birdies at the fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth to end his round with a spectacular flourish.Chappell, who missed the cut on his PGA championship debut last year, recorded three birdies on each nine while Palmer briefly got to seven under for the outright lead before he bogeyed his penultimate hole, the par-three eighth.
McIlroy, with his game in sparkling order, birdied three of his first nine holes to reach the turn in three-under 32 before he hit his second shot at the 10th out-of-bounds en route to a double-bogey.
Spectacular response However, the Northern Irish world No. 1 responded in spectacular fashion, reeling off four consecutive birdies from the 12th, before picking up another shot at the par-five last where he comfortably reached the green in two and two-putted.
Lahiri’s gritty 72 Anirban Lahiri grinded it out for a one-over 72 on a warm and muggy opening day to give himself a decent chance of making the halfway cut.
The scores: First round:65: Kevin Chappell (USA), Lee Westwood (Eng), Ryan Palmer (USA); 66: Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Jim Furyk (USA), Henrik Stenson (Swe), Rory McIlroy (NIr), Chris Wood (USA); 67: Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Jerry Kelly (USA); 68: Joost Luiten (Ned), Ian Poulter (Eng), Bernd Wiesberger (Aut), Shane Lowry (Irl), Danny Willett (Eng), Shawn Stefani (USA), Matt Jones (Aus), Noh Seung-Yul (Kor), JB Holmes (USA); 69: Nick Watney (USA), Jamie Donaldson (Wal), Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Esp), Kevin Streelman (USA), Rickie Fowler (USA), Victor Dubuisson (Fra), Jimmy Walker (USA), Jason Day (Aus), Phil Mickelson (USA), Russ Henley (USA), Alexander Levy (Fra), Graham DeLaet (Can), Steve Stricker (USA), Cameron Tringale (USA), Geoff Ogilvy (Aus).
