Donald Leads By Example – Shares Clubhouse Lead Early At Quail Hollow

5 months ago by Comments Off on Donald Leads By Example – Shares Clubhouse Lead Early At Quail Hollow

European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald has led by example to grab the early clubhouse lead early on day one of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.

Donald celebrated his 17th PGA Championship in teeing-off first on route to posted a bogey-free four-under 67.

“Obviously very pleased with the score, bogey-free in a major”, said Donald.

“Someone just told me it was the lowest first round in a major I’ve had since 2004 or something. So you know, obviously I’ve been trending with all the missed cuts coming into this week.

“But no, it was a pleasant surprise. I got off to a really nice, steady start. I hit a bunch of fairways on the front nine which always makes me feel good about my game.

“I didn’t hit a ton of greens today but my putter was really good. The greens surprise — not surprisingly but they were infinitely quicker this morning first group out than they were the last few days.

“But I adjusted very well to them, and I made a lot of good, solid putts out there”.

The 47-year-old Englishman will proudly lead Europe later this year at Bethpage Park in New York and two years after the fabulous scenes in Rome.

And Donald spoke of how his defending European Team is shaping-up and less than a week after Sepp Straka became the eighth European to win on this year’s 2025 PGA Tour schudule.

“It’s been fun, obviously Rory spearheading with three wins, winning the Masters, Sepp winning a couple times, some other guys throwing their hat in the rings and many others having a chance to win as well, so maybe I was inspired by them for my round”, said Donald.

“Second time around, I’ve got the gist of this captaincy a little bit down more. It’s not quite as new as the first time around, so balancing that stuff is not too hard.

“I’m very excited about being captain again and it’s nice to throw in a good round to show these guys that the old captain has a little life in him.

“I haven’t really been trending towards something like this, but that’s golf for you and I have been working at the game, so it’s nice to see some of that pay off. I’m very pleased.”



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