Xander Schauffele became the first man to card two rounds of 62 in Major Championships as he opened up a three-shot lead after day one of the US PGA Championship.
Just 11 months after matching the record for the lowest round in a Major at the U.S. Open, he carded the lowest round in US PGA Championship history to get to nine under at Valhalla Golf Club.
Tony Finau, Mark Hubbard and Sahith Theegala were the nearest challengers, a shot clear of Belgian Thomas Detry, Scotland's Robert MacIntyre, Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy, South Korean Tom Kim and Americans Tom Hoge, Maverick McNealy and Collin Morikawa.
Branden Grace was the first player to card a 62 in a Major at the 2017 Open Championship before Schauffele and Rickie Fowler remarkably did it on the same day last season at Los Angeles Country Club.
American Schauffele is the reigning Olympic Champion and a two-time DP World Tour winner but is still seeking a first Major Championship, having recorded 12 top tens with two runner-up finishes.
So far in 2024, Schauffele has registered two second-places and six further top tens in 12 made cuts from 12 starts and he feels he could be playing the best golf of his career after reaching a high of third in the Official World Golf Ranking.
"I feel there's spurts, moments in time where you feel like you can control the ball really well," he said. "You're seeing the greens really well, you're chipping really well.
"But over a prolonged period, it's tough to upkeep high performance.
"Yeah, I'd say it's very close to it (his best) if not it."
A stunning tee-shot to three feet at the 11th got the ball rolling for Schauffele before smart approaches to the 13th, 15th and 16th were followed by a smart up-and-down at the par-five 18th.
An opening-round 62 from @XSchauffele matched the Men’s Major Championship record.@ROLEX | #Rolex pic.twitter.com/OGcKW9aRpm
— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 16, 2024
He put one close at the second, almost drove the par-four fourth, holed a ten-footer on the fifth and then made a two-putt gain at the par-five seventh to break the course record of 63 set by José María Olazábal in 2000.
“It feels great,” Schauffele said. “It’s just day one but if someone had said I was going to shoot nine under I would certainly have taken it.
“I’ve been playing some really good golf, having a lot of close calls, so me and my team say why not keep chugging along?
“I’m very happy with the way I played but I can’t really think much more about it, just got to go and tee it up again tomorrow.”
Finau made a hat-trick of birdies from the 13th in a bogey-free 65, while Theegala recorded seven birdies and a single dropped shot in his six-under effort.
Hubbard was in one of the later groups and birdied three of his last four holes to match Theegala in recording seven birdies and a bogey.
McIlroy was two under before bogeying the 17th and finding the water on the next but he saved par and then birdied the first before making a hat-trick of gains from the fifth - including a chip-in on the sixth.
MacIntyre was bogey-free with birdies on the second, fourth, seventh, 11th and 12th, while Detry dropped a single shot on the fifth to go with birdies on the tenth, 13th, 17th, 18th, second and seventh.
Hoge made eight birdies to go with three bogeys, Kim and McNealy both dropped a single shot and Morikawa recovered from being two over after five with seven birdies.
World Number One Scottie Scheffler and defending champion Brooks Koepka were then both five shots off the lead.
