By Steve Keating
ROCHESTER, New York (Reuters) – Eric Cole, who spent the night atop the PGA Championship leaderboard, was back at Oak Hill early on Friday to complete his opening round, turning over the lead to Bryson DeChambeau after a double-bogey start to his day.
Leading by one stroke, the PGA Tour rookie got off to a nervous start by sending his first shot into the creek lining the par four sixth.
A missed short putt added to a wobbly start for the American, who took a six to drop into a tie for second with world number two Scottie Scheffler, former world number one Dustin Johnson and Canadian Corey Conners on three-under.
Cole steadied the ship by closing out with three consecutive pars to leave LIV Golf hope DeChambeau leading by one on four-under 66.
While Cole had a double-bogey start, six-times major winner Phil Mickelson was closing out his first round with a double bogey on the 18th to finish at three-over 73.
With a massive 156 player field and officials scrambling to get the year’s second major back on schedule, players were headed back out for their second rounds while others were closing out their first.
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Rochester; Editing by Ken Ferris)
