New look 7th provides birdie feast

A new route on the 7th hole at Valhalla Golf Club was the road to birdies on the opening day of the 82nd PGA Championship.

With an alternate fairway available to cut 50 yards off the scorecard distance of 597 yards, it turned into the easiest hole on the course. The first 135 players had 65 birdies, 51 pars and an overall average score of 4.65.

During the 1996 PGA, the alternate fairway was closed, leaving designer Jack Nicklaus grumbling about the change. Even as the longest hole on the course, No. 7 still played the fourth easiest in 1996, taking an average of 4.94 shots per player.

The right side leaves a slowly sliding fairway to the left to a green about 30 yards deep. The alternate fairway, surrounded by the remains of the rock quarry from which the hole was hewn, cuts 40 to 60 yards off the distance, but is 15 yards narrower than the right side.

It was a popular route with more than eight of 10 golfers electing to at least try to cut the edge, even with a slight helping breeze most of the day.

The biggest of the big hitters took different approaches to the same result.

John Daly proved that going right didn't mean laying up. He hit a drive 323 yards, put a long iron over the green, chipped on and one-putted for a birdie.

Tiger Woods came within 20 inches of running out of fairway with a 331-yard monster drive off the tee, 10 yards longer than any drive down the left. His 7-iron iron left him with two putts for birdie, his eagle try missing by millimeters. The birdie was the first of four straight for Woods, who ended the day tied for the lead with a 6-under-par 66.

The hole jump-started others on Thursday as well. Davis Love III scored the only eagle of the day - one more than during the entire 1996 tournament - to get under par for the first time toward his 68, good enough for a tie for third. His drive was long enough, but a 4-iron was too long. His pitch from an uphill lie from 30 feet just rolled into the cup.

Tom Lehman gave his choice a great deal of thought.

``If I go right in two, I have got to lay up then hit a wedge, which if I do that, I am probably going to make, you know, statistically, probably two birdies with a wedge,'' Lehman said. ``If I go left, hit four good drives, I am probably going to make three birdies, maybe four birdies.''

Lehman hit a good drive Thursday and made his birdie, a rare bright spot in his round of 82. Nicklaus made his only birdie of the day on No. 7, hitting a 3-wood long and chipping up and down.

Phil Mickelson was frustrated at his missed opportunity after leaving a 3-wood and 2-iron only inches off the front fringe but only makis also trouble.

A tee shot missing the 25-yard landing area found snarly bluegrass rough 4-1/2 inches deep.

Greg Norman put his drive into the rough off the alternate fairway, had to toss a wedge back onto the short stuff, put his third shot in the bunker and made a bogey.

Edward Fryatt, who shot a 69 in his first PGA Championship, tried both fairways. His drive was aimed at the left side, but it leaned too far right, putting him on a sidehill lie leaning toward the main fairway. Fryatt's solution was to lift a 9-iron down the right side, hit an 8-iron onto the green and save par with two putts.

Colin Montgomerie said before play began he would take the left side because he was a short, but straight driver and it was the only way he could get on in two.

``There is a problem if you do miss that particular area of fairway that you can only nudge it forward 20 yards and start again,'' Montgomerie said.

He was partly right. His drive found the rough, he had to hit a wedge to get back in play, sailed the green, put it in the bunker and bogeyed for a 6.

``But, OK, that is the risk or reward that you get. That is what par-5s, I believe, are all about,'' Montgomerie said.

A gaping bunker in front of the middle left pin placement was a popular landing spot for those going for the green in two and coming up just short. Two PGA champions playing in the same group, both put their second shots from the left fairway into the left bunker. Hal Sutton (1983) and Bob Tway (1986) both got up and down for birdies.

Jim Carter and Mike Gill found the other end of the spectrum, getting double-bogeys.

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