Dustin Johnson plays like he has a short memory

So he laid up with a 5-iron. McIlroy said he felt great in warm-ups leading into the major and now he will tee off in the first round in the afternoon. “And it worked out”.

He bogeyed 18 to make the turn at one-over and found himself scrambling on an inward run that included three bogeys and a birdie.

As it stands, all Johnson can claim is the best combined opening-round performance at majors in a single year since at least 1980, according to Stats LLC.

And that’s why he wanted to get off to an easy start.

Not so surprising about the opening round of the PGA Championship on Thursday was Dustin Johnson.

Kohler: Near-perfect greens and an advantageous tee time did not help Tiger Woods’ cause at the PGA Championship on Thursday as the former world number one struggled to a three-over-par 75 in the opening round.

“It was pretty easy, I would have to say”, Johnson said. “I just never had the speed right“. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see them double their combined first-round birdie total of nine. It’s only the first round.

“And fortunately for us we got out there and got to attack the golf course“.

Russell Henley, Mat Kuchar, Harris English, Jason Day, Danny Lee, Matt Jones all shot 68 on the first day, trying them for third, two shots behind the leader. The two-shot penalty kept him out of a playoff.

There was no chance of a repeat Thursday.

Brian Gaffney is taking a break from his real job as a club pro at Quaker Ridge in New York. Besides, he smashed his drive far and left, leaving him nothing more than a 7-iron to the green. He came up with consecutive birdies on 10, 11 and 12, making a 14-foot putt on 10 and a 15-footer on 12.

Of course since then Mickelson has won five majors and cemented his place as one of the greats in the game with 42 career tour victories. “I didn’t feel like I was too much in control”. But so did St. Andrews, where he was expected to make amends for his meltdown on the 72nd hole at Chambers Bay.

“We’re going to have days where it’s like this and I’ve had the flip side of it too”, he said. By the end of the week, it was Zach Johnson who had his name on the claret jug.

Johnson admitted, however, that even though he led halfway through the British Open, he wasn’t playing well.

Phil Mickelson was asked about a Wall Street Journal story this week that mentioned him as part of an insider-trading investigation.

The last major of the season began calmly and jagged Whistling Straits played like a puppy under thick cloud cover amid soft breezes.

Rory McIlroy returned from an ankle ligament injury to defend his USPGA title at Whistling Straits this week.

And it showed on a breezy morning.

“I put in a lot of work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and it got better each day”, he said.

“It’s hard to tell what’s going to happen this week”.

Englishmen Justin Rose and James Morrison, Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn and American Brendan Steele returned 69s while Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, who got to five-under before bogeying three of his last four holes, was among a group bunched on 70. He hit 4-iron to 30 feet and made eagle on No. 16.