PGA CHAMPIONSHIP DIARY | Mud-butt, photo follies, cart rescue, Thomas feels the love

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Just write what you know. I don’t know who said that. So already, I’m off to a bad start. But it’s Day 1 of the PGA Tournament at Valhalla Golf Club, and it’s time to go. The media shuttle departed at 6:30 and I was on it. The bus rolled into the course around 7 a.m. to a soft fog lifting over the grounds.

Unbeknownst to me, down off the 18th fairway, just by the waterfall, Churchill Downs bugler Steve Buttelman was playing “My Old Kentucky Home.” It was a great video. Would’ve been a nice photo. Not the first or last I would miss on Thursday.

Media room, checked in for my daily credential. Photography pass (outside the ropes). Breakfast (eggs, runny, not the best choice) all in all not bad. Off I go, finding a spot by the No. 10 tee, and fire away at guys beginning their tournament, including some of the big names – Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy. All my pictures were crap. My long lens is not professional grade. I see the photos during a break after an hour or so of shooting, decide the rest of the day I’ll focus on my short game.

Back to the media room. Collect a few photos and send to the station for social media use. Rick Bozich arrives on the scene. David Schuh, WDRB Digital's golf guru, is in the house already, or rather, out on the course.

I move from the No. 10 fairway to the No. 12 green and quickly realize, I can’t see anything. I can’t take pictures of what’s happening on the green. I can’t shoot what’s happening in the fairway. I’m blocked. So I go back where I was, and actually shoot the 12 green from the 10 fairway, Which means nothing to you if you don’t know the course, so I’m not sure why I’m telling you.

What did mean something to me was that it was 10:30 in the morning, I’d been there three and a half hours, and accomplished almost nothing. Except for educating myself.

So I went across the way, to No. 9, where few people were watching, and plopped myself down, and waited for the next group, which happened to include John Daly, driving his golf cart up the fairway like he was playing nine holes on a municipal course before lunch. I got my first good picture of the day, of Daly on his cart, hand draped over the wheel, the rest of the poor schmucks trudging up the course behind him. The leader of the (six) pack. Thank you, John.

I’ve now figured out how to salvage my day. After lunch (salmon, saffron rice and green beans in the media center, pretty strong), I head back out to No. 9, where the crowd has built in anticipation of the headliners. I swing around to a different spot, directly behind the green, and plop down outside the ropes in the mud. I have, like everyone else there, mud-butt for the rest of the day. But at least I could get something. A few usable photos will be worth it.

Here came Xander Schauffele. I’m sweating in the heat. Probably getting sunburned. My butt is going numb from sitting on the ground and it’s muddy, to boot. Schauffele, meanwhile, bops up the No. 9 fairway looking like he’s ready for a dinner date. Fresh as a daisy. He’s about to finish off a round of 62 – tying the lowest score in major history – and I don’t even think he’s sweating.

Thomas, one of his playing partners, would say a few minutes later, “It doesn't help when you're not making many putts in the sense of you feel like you're not playing that well, but when you're playing with one of the easiest 9-unders you've ever seen (by Schauffele), it makes you feel like you're shooting a million. I wasn't really paying attention much to leaderboards and whatnot, but when I looked up and saw where I was at, I felt a little bit better about how I was making my way around the course compared to the field.”

All around the course, Thomas was greeted with large, warm ovations. He could feel the support. He was Tiger for a day. Or a weekend. He said he had some nerves early in the tournament, but then settled down and enjoyed the day, enjoyed the support.

For a guy who has played a ton of golf, it was something like he’d never experienced. Hopefully, he’ll experience it for three more days.

“To be honest, I feel like I've never had this many people root for me before,” he said. “So it's a pretty good feeling, to be perfectly honest. So it's just really enjoyable. I wish we had more tournaments in Louisville because I like this.”

Well done, Louisville.

Schauffele, meanwhile, is no stranger to early fireworks. He led the Wells Fargo Championship five five strokes last week, before Rory McIlroy came back to beat him. Schauffele has been wonderfully consistent in majors. inished in the top 20 of the past eight majors. The last player to do that was Woods, who had a streak of 10 straight from 2006-09. Woods also had 14 straight top-20 finishes from 1998 to 2001. Schauffele has some work to do to catch the record, though: Jack Nicklaus had 33 straight top-20 finishes from 1970-78.

Schauffele's reaction to his record round?

“Yeah, it's a great start to a big tournament. Obviously I’m always going to take that. It's just Thursday. That's about it.”

Maybe this will be the one.

Next up, Tiger Woods appeared on the horizon with Adam Scott and Keegan Bradley. Woods used to stalk onto the green for his last hole in a major like he was ready to devour it. These days, he looks more like he’s just trying to survive it. I don’t want to attribute every wince or wiping of the brow with some kind of ache or fatigue. But for the purposes of this retelling, I’m doing that. He finished with a bogey, his second straight, to go from 1-under to 1-over on his final two holes. He couldn’t get to the post-round handshakes quickly enough.

“I am getting stronger for sure,” Woods said afterwards in the interview tent. “It's just that I just don't play a whole lot of competitive rounds. I haven't played since the Masters. … It took me probably three holes to get back into competitive flow again and get a feel for hitting the ball out there in competition, adrenaline, temperatures, green speeds. These are all things that normally I adjust to very quickly, and it just took me a few holes to get into it.”

Up next, McIlroy, who did stalk onto the green as if he would devour it. With him was Justin Rose, and Dustin Johnson, who was the target of a heckler who made it a point to shout, “All that LIV money can’t buy you a putter can it?” Not quite as loud, “How is Rory a better American than DJ?” Others jumped in to shout supportive things.

McIlroy made par, picked up his ball and waved to the crowd. With a round of 5-under, he’s four shots out of the lead, but very much a threat.

Reporters keep trying to ask McIlroy sideways questions about his divorce. He delivered one-line responses, avoiding the post-round traps.

Then finally came Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth and Max Homa. Nobody shouted anything to Koepka about LIV. Probably a good decision. He could well win this tournament. Spieth was disgusted with himself for hitting into the sand, then failing to get out of it with his first attempt.

And that was that. I had to go get ready for TV. Hoist myself up out of the mud. Stretch the cramp out of my calf. Tom Lane and I did a pair of live “hits.” One on Thomas and Woods. A “combo platter” as one of my old newspaper bosses, Gary Schutz, used to term it. The other, we talked about Schauffele’s day.

I’m not a “TV guy,” first and foremost. I just get on there and talk. Not like I’m talking on TV, but like I’m talking to you. Not *quite* like I’m talking to you. But also not too far off. Sometimes it works. Sometimes, not so much. Either way, it’s over in 2-3 minutes.

In between hits, I sprinted down No. 10 to shoot Scottie Scheffler on the fairway. (See? I learned not to shoot him on the tee.) Didn’t matter. Still no good. Scheffler's day had begun far better than mine. He hit an eagle on his first hole, at the par-4 No. 1. Here on No. 10, I ran down to the green and got a few usable frames. Put enough of those together and maybe you can do something with them.

By the way, the last two times the PGA Championship has been held at Valhalla, the No. 1 player in the world has won it. Scheffler is the current No. 1 player in the world. Therefore, keep an eye on him.

Back in the press room, I’m packing up. The Elijah Craig people are making free cocktails in the dining area. I decline. For today. By 6:30, I’m on the shuttle headed out, trying to figure out what to write in my head, before settling on this scattered mess.

We’ll try it all again tomorrow. Rain forecast. I won't forget my stool.

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