KOHLER, WISCONSIN // The 92nd US PGA Championship began after a fog delay of more than three hours at Whistling Straits today as the four-times winner Tiger Woods prepared for a late morning tee off. Bo Van Pelt ended up in the middle of the fairway with the opening shot at the par-four first before hitting his approach to six feet and then coolly sinking the birdie putt. His fellow American playing partners Scott Hebert and Vaughn Taylor each parred the hole.
The four-times champion Tiger Woods, who has failed to win this season in eight appearances on the PGA Tour, had been set to start from the 10th hole at 8.20am. The American, hunting his 15th major title but first since the 2008 US Open, has been grouped with holder YE Yang and the 2004 champion Vijay Singh of Fiji for the first two rounds. The South Korean Yang became Asia's first male major winner at Hazeltine National last year after spectacularly overhauling Woods in the final round to claim the title by three shots.
Phil Mickelson, the US Masters champion, had been scheduled to tee off from the first at 1.35pm with Britain's US Open winner Graeme McDowell and British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa. In other high-profile groupings, the 2008 champion Padraig Harrington of Ireland has been drawn with former winners Davis Love III and John Daly while American world No 4 Steve Stricker will play with Australian Adam Scott and Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy.
The PGA Championship has, in recent years, enjoyed the strongest field of the four majors and 97 of the world's top 100 players are chasing the season's final grand slam title this week. Weather forecasts called for a mix of sunny and cloudy conditions for the rest of the day with light winds gusting up to 20kph on the par-72 Straits Course. * Reuters
