Rocco Mediate came out like a comet Thursday at the first round of the Senior PGA Championship.
The man who may be best known for losing the 2008 U.S. Open to Tiger Woods, had five birdies and an eagle over his first nine holes and went on to tie the tournament record with a nine-under par 62 at Harbor Shores Country Club.
“I knew it’s been coming,” Mediate said after his sparkling effort. “Like this was kind of insane but it was just one of those things where the ball went close to the hole a lot and I didn’t make any bogeys.” After shooting 29 on the front, Mediate found two more birdies before making pars on his final five holes of the round.
“I couldn’t be happier with the way I hit it,” Mediate added.
But as good as he played, he leads by only a shot over Gene Sauers and by two over Mike Goodes.
On a day when low scores were there for the taking, most of the field did as 67 players were under par in Benton Harbor.
Defending champion Colin Montgomerie made sure he was in the thick of the fight with a four-under par 67.
While most fared well, rookie John Daly did not.
Daly, who is known for his single-hole blowups at times, had one on Thursday. Daly took a quintuple-bogey nine at the 422-yard par fourth 16th to shoot 40 on the back nine and he’d finish his day with a 75.
