Monster bites on first day of 2008 PGA Championship

The ‘monster’ South Course at Oakland Hills lived up to its fearsome reputation yesterday, as only 7 players managed to break par on the first day of the 2008 PGA Championship.

The day produced an unlikely pairing at the top of the leaderboard, with Jeev Milkha Singh and Robert Karlsson taking the first round lead as each carded a round of 68 early in the day.

Bad weather moved in after lunch and combined with thick rough, hidden pins and hard fairways to hold some of the world’s best golfers above par, with the likes of Stewart Cink and Darren Clarke finishing the day on scores of 75.

"There's only one guy who's going to like this place by the end of the week," Ben Curtis reflected, after carding a round of 73 for the first round.

Amongst the players to struggle on the first day of play was form PGA Tour player Kenny Perry, who withdrew from his first major after carding a round of 79 and injuring his eye in the process.

The quote of the day came from Paul Goydos, who summed up the nature of the Rees Jones designed course by saying: "If you had Rees Jones redo 'Scrabble,' he'd leave out the vowels."

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