PGA Championship Leaderboard 2016: Updating Results and Standings for Friday

Going into the first round of the PGA Championship, it appeared likely that U.S. Open winner Dustin Johnson and two-time PGA champion Rory McIlroy would have a chance to dominate the leaderboard.

That’s not very likely after 18 holes, as Johnson blew up with a 77 and McIlroy struggled to a 74.

However, Jimmy Walker was more than happy to take up the slack as he raced out to a first-round lead after shooting a five-under 65. The 37-year-old rode a red-hot putter to gain a one-stroke lead over Martin Kaymer along with relative unknowns Emiliano Grillo and Ross Fisher.

Walker has had a difficult year and has not won a tournament since the 2015 Valero Open—he also has just three top-10 finishes this season.

“It’s just been real stale and stagnant,” Walker told Helen Ross of PGATour.com. “It’s just the ebbs and flows of golf. Just haven’t been scoring. Haven’t been making the 10- to 15-, 18-footers you need to make to start running up the leaderboard and to have high finishes.”

The Oklahoma native’s good start puts him in a position to change the arc of his season, but it will take consistent play in the second, third and fourth rounds. He knows he hasn’t demonstrated that kind of performance this season, so it’s a matter of grinding out shot after shot and not getting done in by one or two bad holes.

While Walker is trying to turn his season around, Henrik Stenson is trying to pick up where he left off after winning the British Open. The Swede birdied three of the final seven holes in the opening round, and his three-under 67 left him just two strokes behind Walker. 

Stenson …

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