Only one of the top three golfers in the Official World Golf Ranking, Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, and Rory McIlroy, played like it in the PGA Championship's opening round on Thursday at Oak Hill Country Club.
Scheffler shot a 3-under 67 to tie for third place, 2 strokes behind leader Eric Cole. Scheffler won his first major trophy at the Masters last season, one of his six triumphs since February 2022.
Play was halted at 8:30 p.m. ET due to darkness following a nearly two-hour frost delay to start the day.
Scheffler, who has already had seven top-10 results in 11 professional outings in majors, including a tie for tenth place at the Masters in April, had another strong start.
It was his first round without a bogey in 51 major tournament rounds on Thursday. Scheffler went 7-for-7 when scrambling and made 8 of 14 fairways and 11 of 18 greens.
Scheffler remarked, "It's pretty tough here." "I simply tried to play solid golf during today's round. For the most part, I kept the course in front of me and made some excellent tee shots on the crucial holes.