The trend at the majors this year has featured Sunday chasedowns from players outside the final pairing, and with some of the early scores, there will be opportunities for lots of the chasers on the leaderboard. Keegan Bradley started the day too far out of it, but he’s setting the early pace and was 6-under through his first 13 holes. The 2011 PGA Champion had a solid showing at at Bridgestone last week, and he’s caught fire here on Sunday in his first round this week without Tiger Woods in his group.
PGA Championship 2013 leaderboard: Keegan Bradley going low, Oak Hill vulnerable for the chasers
Keegan Bradley and Hideki Matsuyama have established that there are plenty of birdie holes out on the course on Sunday, allowing for potential come-from-behind winner at the PGA.
Players like Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood have to be encouraged by the work of Bradley and others. McIlroy and Westwood are just getting to the first tee, starting 3-under and six shots back of Jim Furyk. There will be chances on both sides at Oak Hill, as demonstrated by Bradley, who started with three birdies in his first four holes to turn in 32, and then added three more birdies in his first four holes on the back side. Bradley has since dropped a shot, but his playing partner, young Japanese phenom Hideki Matsuyama, has birdied five of his first six holes to get rolling on the back nine.
These streaks are out there for those five and six shots back trying to chase down Furyk and Jason Dufner. Miguel Angel Jimenez had his second streak of five-straight birdies out early in the morning. The PGA of America has set up some holes benignly, to open things up and make for a potentially wild Sunday afternoon of shuffling. That makes it much more exciting than say, a U.S. Open, where your only hope is to make pars and bank on an implosion by the leader. Here are some of the scores of the notables who were out early posting some of those low numbers:
| Place | Player | Score | Today | Thru |
| T10 | Keegan Bradley | -2 | -5 | 15 |
| T10 | Hideki Matsuyama | -2 | -5 | 15 |
| T10 | Jason Day | -2 | -2 | 7 |
| T17 | Rickie Fowler | -1 | -1 | 7 |
| T25 | Graeme McDowell | E | -2 | 12 |
| T33 | Miguel Jimenez | 2 | -3 | F |
| T38 | Martin Kaymer | 3 | -1 | F |
| T42 | Tiger Woods | 4 | E | F |
| T42 | Paul Casey | 4 | 1 | 16 |
| T57 | Sergio Garcia | 6 | 4 | 12 |
| T60 | Hunter Mahan | 7 | 1 | F |
| T62 | Ian Poulter | 8 | E | F |
| T62 | Brandt Snedeker | 8 | 5 | 12 |
| T68 | Vijay Singh | 10 | 5 | F |
| T72 | Phil Mickelson | 12 | 2 | F |
| T72 | Matteo Manassero | 12 | 7 | F |
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