PGA Tour Brunch – PGA Championship Notebook

KIAWAH ISLAND – Three of Louis Oosthuizen’s four 36-hole lead/co-leads on the PGA Tour have now come in Majors.

With a win at the PGA Championship, Phil Mickelson (50) would become the first player to win a major championship at age 50 or older. To date, the oldest player to win a major is Julius Boros, at the 1968 PGA Championship when he was 48 years, 4 months, 18 days old.

Mickelson became the sixth player since 1900 to lead/co-lead after any round of a Major in four different decades (1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s). The others: Sam Snead, Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Raymond Floyd)

Reigning Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama is two shots off the lead; the last player to win multiple majors in the same season: Brooks Koepka (2018 U.S. Open, PGA Championship).

Three of the top-four players in the Official World Golf Ranking missed the cut: Dustin Johnson (1), Justin Thomas (2), Xander Schauffele (4).

There have been no bogey-free rounds through 36 holes at Kiawah Island Ocean Course.

PGA Championship Leaderboard After 36 Holes

Phil Mickelson 70-69—139 (-5)

Louis Oosthuizen 71-68—139 (-5)

Brooks Koepka 69-71—140 (-4)

Branden Grace 70-71—141 (-3)

Christian Bezuidenhout 71-70—141 (-3)

Hideki Matsuyama 73-68—141 (-3)

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THIS WEEK on the PGA TOUR: Wells Fargo Championship

COURSE: Quail Hollow Country Club (Charlotte, NC)

FEDEx CUP Points Available/Winner: 2,989/500

SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedExCup @WellsFargoGolf

OFFICIAL SITE: (Wells Fargo Championship) – (Official Tournament Site)

TV COVERAGE: Today: 2:00pm to 6:00pm (EDT) on Golf Channel. On Saturday, May 8 and Sunday, May 9 – Golf Channel’s TV coverage will air from 1:00pm to 3:00pm (EDT), then CBS takes over coverage from 3:00pm to 6:00pm (EDT).

STREAMING: PGA Tour Live will offer streaming coverage of Featured Groups today from 7:00am to 6:00pm (EDT). On Saturday and Sunday, PGA Live Featured Groups runs from 8:00am to 3:00pm (EDT) with Featured Holes streaming from 3:00pm to 6:00pm (EDT).

PGA TOUR RADIO COVERAGE: Streaming Radio coverage today from 12:00pm Noon to 6:00pm (EDT); then Saturday and Sunday, 1:00pm to 6:00pm (EDT) on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. PGA Tour Radio is available on Sirius 208/XM 92) or online on PGATour.com.

How to Watch: (PGATourCom)

Wells Fargo Championship Notes:

Sooner or later, the players, fans, volunteers, administrators and media that together make up the PGA Tour knew the future Golf Hall-of-Famer Phil Mickelson would post a score. That day came Thursday!

Phil Mickelson today holds the opening-round lead at a PGA Tour event for the first time since the 2019 American Express, a span of 840 days. Mickelson’s 7-under (64) marks his lowest score on Tour since the second round of the 2020 Travelers Championship (63).

Mickelson has not finished inside the Top 20 in his 13 starts this season and his T-21 at the Masters Tournament marked Mickelson’s best finish of 2021.

Phil@50: The 44-time PGA Tour winner has yet to win on the Tour since turning 50 on June 16, 2020.

Keegan Bradley (66), and Peter Malnati (67) recorded bogey-free rounds.

On the Other End of the Spectrum: World No. 3 Jon Rahm posted a 5-over (76), ending his streak of eight consecutive par-or-better rounds dating back to his final-round (73) at THE PLAYERS Championship. Rahm currently leads the Tour for consecutive cuts made (22) and has only one missed cut since June 1, 2019 (2020 Charles Schwab Challenge).

Defending champion Max Homa recorded a 6-over (77), his highest score in 10 rounds at the Wells Fargo Championship and his highest score on Tour since a (78) in the first round of the 2020 U.S. Open.

Quail Hollow resident Webb Simpson was forced to withdraw with a neck strain.

Wells Fargo Championship Leaderboard After First Round

Phil Mickelson 64 (-7)

K.H. Lee 66 (-5)

Keegan Bradley 66 (-5)

Six players at 4-under 67

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