PGA Notebook: Dustin Johnson Lurking, Collin Morikawa Frustrated, Kurt Kitayama Pleased

Last week's LIV Golf winner bogeyed his last hole but otherwise had an opportunistic 67 to sit one back of the clubhouse leader and fellow LIV'er Bryson DeChambeau.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — In the darkness of Rochester, Dustin Johnson needed to make a 14-footer for par and tie the clubhouse lead of Bryson DeChambeau at 4 under par, but the putt slid by.

His opening round at the PGA was bogey-free through 17 holes before the five at the last, his only blemish on a card that included four birdies and was Johnson’s first round in the 60s at a PGA Championship since his final-round 68 at the 2020 PGA when he finished T2 to Collin Morikawa at TPC Harding Park.

“I kind of grinded it out,” Johnson said. “I didn't have my best stuff, but I felt like I managed the golf course very well and took advantage of the opportunities when I had it.”

Johnson combined the good stuff with key saves to keep the round almost bogey-free.

Maybe his most impressive save came at the drivable par-4 14th hole, when Johnson hit a wayward 3-wood right and needed all his superpowers to save par, capped with a five-foot putt.

“It’s not an unusual shot for me to hit with a 3-wood, a heel slice that's in the repertoire, so I was pretty surprised because I felt like I was swinging pretty good,” Johnson said of the wayward tee shot. “So, it was a little surprise, but it is what it is. Made a nice four.”

Johnson came into this week hot, taking the crown at LIV Golf Tulsa last week, his first win since LIV Golf Boston last summer.

With seemingly a more-relaxed attitude, Johnson has an early turn around due to the almost two-hour frost delay on Thursday.

“I'm pleased with how it went, hit one really bad shot on 14 but somehow scraped out a four, other than that it was it was a pretty nice day,” he said.

Collin Morikawa Shoots 'Frustrating' 71

Few players walked off Oak Hill on Thursday shooting over par and happy with their game.

That was how 2020 PGA champion Collin Morikawa felt about his 1-over 71.

"Frustrating to walk out 1 over but this course is just tough,” Morikawa said. “And all the prep I've been doing the past week, week and a half leading up to this since Wells Fargo I feel like my game is there and I’m not trying to guide, I'm not trying to do anything, but just letting my pure athleticism and golf just take over.”

The 26-year-old felt he missed two shots on Thursday, both tee shots: on the par-4 6th hole where he found the creek off the right side of the fairway, and the par-3 15th hole where he found the greenside bunker left, leaving him an almost impossible up-and-down.

“I probably putted some of the best I've seen all year, even going back to Hawaii,” Morikawa said. “I think I putted it better today. Just hitting great speed, great lines, and you're gonna make bogeys out here, so to go bogey-free would be nearly impossible. So, knowing that, I'm right there.

Morikawa left Oak Hill after a physio workout to, as he said, “just call it a day,” knowing all the prep he did last week was more than enough and believing Friday’s round will be just fine.

“I’m not trying to find anything right now, and I don't need to even after today,” Morikawa said. “I've never seen winds that swirled this much in my life. I mean, we were on the tee, and it'd be straight in or it'd be off the left, and then we hit and then it would be off the right. And you'd look at yourself like you just had a bad shot. But for everything that we've been working on, it's been really good.”

Kurt Kitayama Pleased With Even-Par Start

Playing in only his fourth PGA Championship and 10th career major, Kurt Kitayama is somewhere between on-the-job training and a veteran of the biggest events in golf.

A winner earlier this year at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, his only PGA Tour win, the 30-year-old from Chico, Calif., came to Rochester with a game that is not quite clicking on all cylinders.

Since his win in Orlando and then a T31 at the WGC-Dell Match Play in Austin, Texas, Kitayama has struggled with a 75th at the Players Championship, a WD at RBC Heritage and two missed cuts including one coming at the Masters.

“Felt like I had a good week in Austin, but other than that it’s like I’m searching, it feels like I’m searching,” Kitayama said after an even-par 70. “So, I’m really pleased how today went.”

With four birdies, two bogeys and one double bogey at the par-4 9th hole, Kitayama negotiated Oak Hill relatively well with the healthy rough and swirling winds.

Sitting at T20 and just four shots back of clubhouse leader Bryson DeChambeau, Kitayama will need a similar round on Friday, without some of the mistakes, to make up some ground.

“I don't think anyone's really comfortable out here,” Kitayama said of Oak Hill. “We kind of find holes where you may feel a little more comfortable off the tee and ones you aren't, you kind of hit a club that your more likely to the fairway. “I don't think anyone's really comfortable.”