• US PGA Championship Round One

The root of all evil

Tiger Woods struggled with his driver despite making a bright start © PA Photos

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A lawnmower malfunction, a tree with a vicious streak and making a par the hard way all feature in plays of the day

GUR
Even before play there was a headache for officials, as groundstaff preparing the course inadvertently dug up an area on the 17th green. The initial plan to repair the area failed to pay off and a decision was taken to go down the fairway, remove a patch of turf and knit it into the affected area on the green. The greenstaff can work wonders these days, but the result was not pretty and officials took the decision that if you found that area of the green it would be classed as Ground Under Repair - resulting in a free drop. It's the sort of thing you expect on your trip down to the local municipal, not at a major championship.

Nerves of steel
Tiger Woods picked up the driver on the 12th, his third, and the tee shot can best be described as a wide. He was able to scramble a birdie, but it must have been in his mind after a solid opening. He picked the big stick out of the bag a couple of holes later. Most players would have had their knees knocking together, but Woods launched the ball towards the bunker on the right and a little draw brought the ball perfectly into the middle of the fairway. The swing was assured and even before the ball landed we had the trademark club twirl. It was a joy to watch and although he is in a slump, the confidence is still high.

A watery grave
After surging to three-under and looking full of confidence, Tiger Woods had to endure a long wait on the 15th tee - his sixth hole. It's not the ideal hole to be standing on the tee contemplating your attack - a brutal 260-yard par three. And it certainly proved the undoing of Tiger. He took an iron and it came up short, finding the water and it left him contemplating a double-bogey that sent his round into freefall.

Rooting out the problem
A poor tee shot on the third left Rory McIlroy faced with a real problem, with his ball sat directly behind a tree root. The sensible play would be to take your medicine and chip out sideways. Rory had other ideas and attempted to blast the ball forward. The tree root won the battle, as the ball went up and sideways but more worryingly McIlroy was left clenching his wrist in pain. An ice pack was called for and after a wait he did manage to make bogey, but it was a worrying sign that he was still feeling his wrist on the green.

Rory McIlroy grimaces in pain after striking a tree root © PA Photos

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Losing the plot
Bubba Watson entered a bunker on the 10th hole sitting proudly at the top of the leaderboard at four-under. He was halfway through his downswing when some background noise unsettled him. He threw his club in frustration and never regained his composure. The big-hitting left hander lurched from one catastrophe to the next and a run of five bogeys in six holes, added to a double bogey at his penultimate hole, saw him slip back to four-over.

What a way to make a par
With his wrist and hand taped and clearly in pain, Rory McIlroy stepped on the 10th tee and hit a huge wide. He had no way of getting back onto the 10th fairway, so had to chip sideways onto the adjoining fairway. Completely blocked out, he fired a shot high over the trees and somehow found the putting surface. Faced with a slick downhill 20-footer, McIlroy showed nerves of steel to stroke the ball in for one of the more memorable pars that will be made this week.

Walking in the air
For all you Aled Jones fans, that's a reference to the Snowman. And Darren Clarke had one of them on his card at the 12th. His triple-bogey eight checked any momentum he had but it did not knock the stuffing out of the Open champion. The searing heat of Atlanta was never likely to suit a man who is happiest on the links of Portrush, but he ground things out and thrilled the crowd with a monster swinging downhill putt for par on 14.

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