The topic says that on the first day of a Major, you can’t win the tournament, but you can lose it. Miguel Ángel Jiménez (PAR) must apply this maxim perfectly after the first 18 holes of the Senior PGA Championship held at Congressional Country Club. Level par round, 35th place and five shots behind the leader. You could say everything is under control.
On this first day, rain also made an appearance with a suspension included just a few hours after the tournament began. It was able to restart swiftly and helped ensure the greens weren’t as fast as everyone had anticipated in the previous days
The second Major of the senior circuit has started with Cameron Percy (-5) as the sole leader thanks to a round of 67 strokes. The Australian couldn’t play more than nine practice holes this week due to back pain, but it barely showed at the start.
The top ten is filled with great luminaries such as Ernie Els (-3), Vijay Singh (-2), familiar faces like Thomas Bjorn (-2), Stewart Cink (-2), Darren Fichardt (-2) or the defending champion Richard Bland. Ernie Els returns to the course where he precisely won the US Open in 1997. 28 years apart, but the desire to win remains intact.
Two shots behind this group and five from the lead is Miguel Ángel Jiménez. The leader of the PGA Tour Champions Order of Merit has started the tournament with a round of 72 strokes, which felt less than he would have liked. The Spaniard began on the 10th hole at Congressional and gained two strokes on the field in that half of the course. He was in the mix from the first minute of the tournament. However, two bogeys on holes 1 and 5 brought him back to level par, and he couldn’t take advantage of either of the two par fives remaining between holes 6 and 9. As mentioned, everything is still ahead, and the ‘Pisha’ is in a great position to attack from this Friday.
Ángel Cabrera, last week’s champion of the Regions Tradition, the first Major of the year, also started with a round level with the course.
Things went slightly worse for José María Olazábal (+3), although not excessively. The Basque has a challenge this week, as in his four previous participations, he hasn’t managed to make the cut in the Senior PGA Championship. After the first 18 holes, he is right on the edge thanks to a card of 75 strokes. 71st place and three over par. He’s right on the cut line, will the fifth time be the charm? Few things resist good old Txema when he sets his mind to something.
