CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Rickie Fowler loves playing at Quail Hollow. You can’t particularly blame him.
This is where Fowler got his breakthrough PGA Tour win, and where he now hopes to capture that elusive first major championship.
Fowler shot an opening-round 69 at the PGA Championship on Thursday, leaving him two shots behind the co-leaders, Kevin Kisner and Thorbjorn Olesen. He won the 2012 Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow – his first win after turning pro two years earlier.
“I’ve definitely had a lot of good finishes here,” said the 28-year-old Fowler. “Getting my first win and then being in contention a couple years ago. This golf course has a great look to me. It suits my eye. I’ve made a lot of putts here.”
Fowler could have threatened for the lead had it not been for a triple bogey at the par-4 fifth.
Fowler’s tee shot landed in the bunker on the right side of the fairway after what he called a “mental mistake” on his drive.
It was disaster from there.
He took two shots to get out of the sand and two more to find the green from the primary rough before two-putting for a 7.
It easily could have been a huge negative momentum swing for Fowler, who birdied the previous two holes. Instead he quickly regained focus and birdied three of the next five holes to get back under par.
He finished with six birdies.
On a day when Phil Mickelson failed to make a birdie and shot 79, and defending champion Jimmy Walker finished with an 81, Fowler will take it.
“I made a lot of really good swings,” Fowler said. “I just have to put that (one hole) behind me and move on.”
Fowler was pleased with his overall play, particularly his driving, even though he only hit half of the 14 fairways.
“You have to drive it in the fairway, that’s definitely key,” Fowler said. “I feel like I did a pretty good job of that, other than one hole.”
Fowler won the Honda Classic in February and has six top-five finishes this season.
He hopes his consistent play can lead to that elusive first major championship.
“It’s been a good year kind of all across the board,” Fowler said. “I just need to continue to do what we’ve been doing.”
Fowler was paired with Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm, two players he enjoys playing with. Rahm shot 70 and McIlroy, a two-time winner at Quail Hollow who lost to Fowler in a playoff there in 2012, had a 72.
“It’s a great pairing,” Fowler said. “I’ve gotten paired with Jon a few times, and Rory and I have played quite a bit of golf together over the years. So I was looking forward to getting out with those guys.
“Yeah, hopefully we can push each other a little bit (Friday) morning and get moving in the right direction.”
BROOKS KOEPKA’S drive on No. 16 sailed to the right and hit a marshal in the head, leaving his face bloodied. Video posted on the PGA of America’s Twitter feed showed Koepka checking on the marshal and signing a glove for him as he lay on the ground.
The man left the course for the rest of the day but PGA officials said he was fine.
“He just got drilled in the head,” Koepka said. “I felt terrible about it. I mean, that’s never fun to walk up and see somebody, you just drilled them. I drilled him in the head, which is probably the worst part. To be honest with you, I felt (horrible).”
Koepka said the marshal was laughing and joking about the ball bouncing off his head, and back into the fairway.
“He kept telling me, ‘You got a good break,’ ” Koepka said. “I was like, well, still feel (horrible). But yeah, I got his information so I’ll probably reach out to him tonight and see how he’s doing. I’m sure he’s going to have quite a big headache.”
THE FIRST hole-in-one at the event belonged to Joost Luiten.
He aced the par-3 fourth. Luiten’s tee shot on the 184-yard hole bounced once on the green before plunking into the cup.
THORBJORN OLESEN is tied for the lead. Or is he?
It turns out Thorbjorn isn’t actually his first name. It’s Jacob.
Olesen said when he started school in Demark, there were three boys named Jacob in his class, so everyone started calling him by his middle name, Thorbjorn, to avoid confusion. The name stuck, and he’s been known to the golf world as Thorbjorn Olesen ever since.
“I thought, ‘why not, I’ll still use it as a pro golfer,’ ” said Olesen, who has won four times in the European Tour but never on American soil. “I think it’s only really my mom that calls me Jacob. But everybody else calls me Thorbjorn.”
ANDREW JOHNSTON and Si Woo Kim withdrew because of injury. Johnston shot a 78 and Kim had a 79.
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