• PGA Championship: Grace off first on Friday

    Thorbjorn Olesen PGA Championship
    Olesen is facing serious charges

    Branden Grace is the first South African under way on Friday as he finds himself well off the pace in the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.

    READ: Els shoots 80, missed cut looms

    With two top-five finishes in his last two starts at this event, Grace slumped to a +6 77 on Thursday, despite calm conditions. Now he sets about trying to rectify the damage, and will need to post a low number if he wants to hang around this weekend.

    Grace gets his second round under way at 13:45 SA time, some forty minutes before the marquee group of Fowler, Rahm and McIlroy begin their day.

    ALSO: Stone, Schwartzel struggle at Quail Hollow

    It is the American who leads the battle in that circle, after recovering from a front nine triple bogey to post 69, one shot better than Rahm, who played the Green Mile in +2. And despite his rich history at the venue, Rory McIlroy could only muster a 73 on Thursday, meaning he will need to come out firing if he wants to get close to the overnight leaders – Kevin Kisner and Thorbjorn Olesen – at four-under-par.

    Louis Oosthuizen was the only South African to break par on Thursday and sits well-placed inside the top 20 after round one. He continues his championship tilt at 19:40 alongside JB Holmes and Danny Willett.

    Selected tee times:

    13:45 Perez, Grace, Bjorn
    14:25 Fowler, Rahm, McIlroy
    18:55 Matsuyama, Poulter, Els
    19:00 Kang, Frittelli, Bryan
    19:25 Casey, Schwartzel, Watson
    19:35 Koepka, Spieth, Garcia
    19:40 Oosthuizen, Willett, Holmes
    19:45 Day, Johnson, Stenson
    20:10 Wiesberger, Smith, Stone
    20:30 Stroud, Sterne, VermeerÂ

    Opening round scores of the PGA Championship:

    67 – Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN) 33-34, Kevin Kisner (USA) 33-34

    68 – Grayson Murray (USA) 36-32, Brooks Koepka (USA) 32-36, Gary Woodland (USA) 32-36, Chris Stroud (USA) 35-33, D.A. Points (USA) 34-34

    69 – Tony Finau (USA) 34-35, Patrick Reed (USA) 32-37, Paul Casey (ENG) 35-34, Jim Herman (USA) 33-36, Bud Cauley (USA) 34-35, Rickie Fowler (USA) 34-35, Brian Harman (USA) 31-38

    70 – Hideki Matsuyana (JPN) 35-35, Kang Sung (KOR) 36-34, Tommy Fleetwood (ENG) 34-36, Jason Day (AUS) 33-37, Dustin Johnson (USA) 34-36, Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) 37-33, Graham DeLaet (CAN) 35-35, Pat Perez (USA) 35-35, Jon Rahm (ESP) 33-37, Jordan Smith (ENG) 36-34

    71 – Zach Johnson (USA) 35-36, Hideto Tanihara (JPN) 35-36, Satoshi Kodaira (JPN) 36-35, Adam Scott (AUS) 35-36, An Byeong-Hun (KOR) 36-35, Matt Kuchar (USA) 35-36, Ryan Moore (USA) 34-37, Sean O’Hair (USA) 38-33

    72 – Chris Wood (ENG) 37-35, Jordan Spieth (USA) 36-36, David Lingmerth (SWE) 37-35, Scott Hend (AUS) 34-38, Yuta Ikeda (JPN) 35-37, Patrick Cantlay (USA) 36-36, Anirban Lahiri (IND) 34-38, Rory McIlroy (NIR) 34-38, Kevin Chappell (USA) 33-39, Cody Gribble (USA) 33-39, Chez Reavie (USA) 36-36

    73 – Dylan Frittelli (RSA) 35-38, Justin Thomas (USA) 36-37, Francesco Molinari (ITA) 36-37, Lee Westwood (ENG) 38-35, Scott Brown (USA) 36-37, Kelly Kraft (USA) 35-38, Danny Willett (ENG) 38-35, Bernd Wiesberger (AUT) 36-37, K.T. Kim (KOR) 37-36, James Hahn (USA) 35-38, Richard Sterne (RSA) 38-35, Soren Kjeldsen (DEN) 36-37, Shaun Micheel (USA) 37-36, Daniel Berger (USA) 36-37, Graeme McDowell (NIR) 37-36, Wang Jeung-Hun (KOR) 37-36, Bryson DeChambeau (USA) 37-36, Li Haotong (CHN) 36-37

    74 – Shane Lowry (IRE) 38-36, Alex Noren (SWE) 36-38, Peter Uihlein (USA) 37-37, Ian Poulter (ENG) 35-39, Wesley Bryan (USA) 38-36, Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 36-38, John Daly (USA) 36-38, Robert Streb (USA) 37-37, Henrik Stenson (SWE) 36-38, Keegan Bradley (USA) 37-37, J.B. Holmes (USA) 38-36, Xander Schauffle (USA) 35-39, Brendan Steele (USA) 37-37, Omar Uresti (USA) 35-39, Jason Dufner (USA) 40-34, Jonas Blixt (SWE) 37-37, Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP) 38-36, Jamie Lovemark (USA) 37-37

    75 – Sergio Garcia (ESP) 35-40, Vijay Singh (FIJ) 35-40, Charley Hoffman (USA) 37-38, Nicolas Colsaerts (BEL) 38-37, Cameron Smith (AUS) 35-40, Lucas Glover (USA) 39-36, Jason Kokrak (USA) 38-37, Russell Henley (USA) 36-39, Marc Leishman (AUS) 35-40, Steve Stricker (USA) 38-37, Ross Fisher (ENG) 36-39, Bill Haas (USA) 35-40, Alexander Levy (FRA) 39-36, Luke List (USA) 37-38, Ryan Fox (NZL) 41-34

    76 – Daniel Summerhays (USA) 36-40, Kyle Stanley (USA) 39-37, Kenny Pigman (USA) 40-36, Matt Dobyns (USA) 39-37, Joost Luiten (NED) 35-41, Luke Donald (ENG) 37-39, Webb Simpson (USA) 38-38, Yang Yong-Eun (KOR) 35-41, Billy Horschel (USA) 39-37, Matthew Fitzpatrick (ENG) 37-39, Danny Lee (NZL) 37-39, Justin Rose (ENG) 35-41, Jim Furyk (USA) 37-39

    77 – Pablo Larrazabal (ESP) 38-39, Russell Knox (SCO) 40-37, Bubba Watson (USA) 36-41, William McGirt (USA) 38-39, Brian Smock (USA) 37-40, Rod Pampling (AUS) 41-36, Hudson Swafford (USA) 37-40, Greg Gregory (USA) 37-40, Branden Grace (RSA) 38-39, Tyrrell Hatton (ENG) 39-38, Martin Laird (SCO) 37-40

    78 – Dave McNabb (USA) 36-42, Charles Howell III (USA) 38-40, Andy Sullivan (ENG) 38-40, Davis Love III (USA) 38-40, Emiliano Grillo (ARG) 38-40, Mackenzie Hughes (CAN) 38-40, Jhonattan Vegas (VEN) 39-39, J.J. Wood (USA) 37-41

    79 – Rich Berberian (USA) 38-41, Padraig Harrington (IRL) 37-42, Patrick Rodgers (USA) 38-41, Thomas Pieters (BEL) 40-39, Brandon Stone (RSA) 40-39, Thomas Bjorn (DEN) 39-40, Phil Mickelson (USA) 39-40, Adam Hadwin (CAN) 40-39, Jamie Broce (USA) 40-39, Alex Beach (USA) 39-40, Kevin Na (USA) 40-39

    80 – Ernie Els (RSA) 40-40, Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR) 43-37, Song Young-Han (KOR) 39-41, Mike Small (USA) 40-40, Thongchai Jaidee (THA) 42-38, Chris Kirk (USA) 38-42

    81 – Adam Rainaud (USA) 40-41, Jimmy Walker (USA) 39-42, Chris Moody (USA) 42-39

    82 – Rich Beem (USA) 40-42, Ryan Vermeer (USA) 43-39, Rod Perry (USA) 39-43, Paul Claxton (USA) 40-42

    83 – Scott Hebert (USA) 40-43

    84 – Stuart Deane (USA) 41-43, David Muttitt (USA) 42-42, Jaysen Hansen (USA) 41-43

    WD – Andrew Johnston (ENG) 39-39, Kim Si-Woo (KOR) 40-39

    Photo: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

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