Sweltering Conditions Create Not-So-Hot Starts

SPRINGFIELD, N.J. —  Opening day at the 87th PGA Championship was so hot Thursday, it almost melted the fenders off the courtesy cars, and it definitely turned John Daly’s first round into a dehydration concern.

Daly started off wearing a light blue shirt and ended in a dark blue one -- without ever changing.

Round 1 at sweltering Baltusrol Golf Club might otherwise be summed up as typical of a PGA, which always seems to produce eclectic leaderboards.

Where it all shakily stands:

Phil Mickelson, trying to recoup his 2004 Masters form, birdied his last hole and is part of a six-player cavalcade at three-under-par 67 on the Lower Course.

Mickelson is joined in the lead by -- deep breath -- Trevor Immelman of South Africa, Stephen Ames of Trinidad and Tobago, Stuart Appleby of Australia, and a couple of home-grown blokes, Rory Sabbatini and Ben Curtis.

Is this the week Mickelson adds a bookend to his one major?

“It’s a little premature to answer that question,” he said. “I don’t like to look that far ahead. There’s a lot of work to be done.”

Ames, among those sharing the lead, has more on his mind than golf this week as his wife Jodi recovers from cancer surgery. Ames is here with his two children, and their nanny.

There are 11 players bunched at two-under 68, including past major winners Steve Elkington, Bernhard Langer, Davis Love III and Retief Goosen.

Playing not-so-hot despite the heat was Tiger Woods, who bounded into New Jersey oozing confidence after victories in two majors this season but left oozing golf oil after shooting five-over 75.

Woods, at day’s end, was tied for 113th.

“I think there’s plenty of guys happy to see him down the leaderboard for a change,” Appleby said. “I don’t think you’re going to get some, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry, what a pity.’ ”

Mickelson later echoed, “If you’re looking for me to shed a tear, it’s not going to happen.”

Vijay Singh, the defending PGA champion and lately the only man willing to stand up to Woods, checked in at a lukewarm even-par 70, salvaging his round with a birdie-birdie finish.

Curtis’ appearance on a major leaderboard confirms he had not been stashed in golf’s witness protection program.

The out-of-Ohio-nowhere man who shockingly won the 2003 British Open, Curtis has been on the skids since, having made the cut only three times in 16 starts on the PGA Tour this year.

Curtis did post a third at the recent Western Open but had become so anonymous that he walked virtually unnoticed through the grounds of Riviera Country Club after a round at this year’s Nissan Open.

Nothing seems to ruffle the even-keeled Curtis though, and you certainly can’t claim that fame went to his Claret Jug head.

Curtis never professed to be the next star on tour, but he also didn’t expect to drop off the face of the earth.

“You want to be the best you can be,” Curtis said after Thursday’s round. “ ... I know I’m not going to win 15 or 10 times on tour a year, like Tiger or Vijay. But if I can win one tournament every year for the rest of my life, I’d be happy.”

Curtis was happy Thursday, and credited a recent three-week break from golf to clear his mind.

He admits to never having quite grasped the instant adulation that came with winning the British Open.

“Well, I think obviously it changed my life forever,” he said. “

He has missed cuts this year at 12-over par twice, 11 over twice, and was 16 over at the U.S. Open.

Curtis shot 78 on the first day of the British Open and missed the cut, despite rallying for a second-day 70.

And then there were the travails of Tiger ...

Woods’ opening-round pratfall had some PGA precedent, however.

This was the fifth straight year he has shot 71 or higher in the first round of a PGA Championship.

The five-over was also the most over par Woods has ever been after the first round of a major.

His problem was hitting only six of 14 fairways and needing 35 putts to navigate the course. The same Woods who tied for 80th in putting at the U.S. Open and finished first at the British definitely wobbled out of the tee box.

“When I did hit it well off the tees, I didn’t hit my irons close, and then when I did hit it close, I didn’t make a putt,” Woods said. “It was just every hole, you could say there’s something that I did wrong on the hole to not make birdie, and that was frustrating.”

He might blame it on the curse of playing partner Kevin Sutherland, who happened to be in Tiger’s group this year when Woods missed his first cut in seven years, at the Byron Nelson. Sutherland was assigned to Woods’ group this week after Greg Norman withdrew.

Despite Thursday’s 75, counting Woods out this soon may not be wise.

Eight shots off the pace, he announced, “I’m still in the tournament, no doubt about that.”

Woods, remember, shot 74 in his first round at this year’s Masters and ... won.

He opened play Thursday with a three-putt bogey on the par-four 10th, his first hole, and it was uphill from there. He carded four bogeys and a double at the par-four seventh, scoring his lone birdie at the par-four eighth hole.

Game over for Woods?

Maybe not, according to Mickelson.

“I believe, as I think we all do, that his name will find its way up on top there,” he said. “It’ll be tough for us to keep him back.”