A fan at the PGA Championship was rewarded for taking a tee shot off his leg in the opening round on Thursday.
PGA Tour golfer Joel Dahmen hit a fan — Caleb McGuire — in the calf, according to McGuire’s Twitter account. When Dahmen reached McGuire, he asked how much a beer cost at the event. After McGuire responded with “$17,” Dahmen handed him a $100 bill.
Dahmen reportedly told McGuire, “I got your beers today.”
Dahmen went on to make a par on the opening hole but shot a 2-over par 37 on the front 9.
The PGA Championship is taking place at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York this week. The first round of the tournament was delayed due to frost, but players eventually teed off at 8:50 a.m. on Thursday.
Dahmen attended the University of Washington, before turning pro in 2010. He has three professional wins, including one on the PGA Tour. Dahmen’s best finish at the PGA Championship came in 2020 when he tied for 10th place.
Justin Thomas is attempting to repeat as the PGA Championship winner. Thomas finished at 5-under par last season and won the tournament in a playoff.
This is the first time that the PGA Championship has been played at Oak Hill since 2013. Jason Dufner won the event that year.
Tiger Woods sent Rory McIlroy an important text ahead of 2023 PGA Championship
Rory McIlroy also teed off Thursday morning at the PGA Championship. Several days earlier, he received some advice from Tigers Woods.
Woods, who is at home recuperating from ankle surgery, exchanged thoughts about ball striking with McIlroy through text messages.
Tiger noticed a detail and sent McIlroy a text message. The next thing you know, Rory McIlroy was spending several hours at Tiger Woods’ ocean-front estate in Jupiter Island, Florida.
The in-person meeting between the two happened last Friday. Woods isn’t competing right now because of his ankle but McIlroy is.
McIlroy’s game hasn’t been all that of late. In his last three tour events, he missed the cut at the PLAYERS Championship and the Masters. Then he tied for 47th at the Wells Fargo at Quails Hollow. We’re not sure what Tiger saw in Rory McIlroy’s swing. However, if McIlroy suddenly turns things around later this week, we’ll know something worked.
Reporters asked McIlroy about his recent problems during his pre-PGA media availability. McIlroy went into specifics.
“Yeah, just the club getting a little bit out of position at the top and then sort of the sequence of events that follow from there,” McIlroy said. “Club face was getting a bit too open on the way back, really struggling to square it on the way down, and then sort of re-closure was getting a little too fast, throwing my hands on it, and sorta started to get the miss going both ways, especially at Quail Hollow.”
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