The PGA of America smartly created a mega group for the first two rounds of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, putting together Scheffler, the World No. 1, with the next two men in the rankings, Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele.

The two-time PGA champ prepared at Quail Hollow last week then arrived for the tournament Wednesday night, but is likely going home early after an opening 79.

Five-time major champion Brooks Koepka turned in another poor scorecard at Quail Hollow, the site of this week's PGA Championship.

There is no good reason to suspect Luke Donald would play well at Quail Hollow this week. That is not meant to disrespect a former World No. 1, and potential future Hall of Famer. Rather to underline the gravity of the task ahead of him this week. Quail Hollow is a long golf course, with lush rough and this week it's soaking wet. If you're good off the tee, you'll probably do well here. Donald has never been that. He's lived in the short-and-crooked zone for most of his 24-year career, and paid the bills with his wedges and putter. It's why Quail Hollow has been such an awkward fit for Donald, even at the peak of his powers—his eight starts here feature five MCs, and one finish inside the top 70 (a career-best T-15). Not many positive signs for a man now aged 47, who has spent a bulk of the last 3 years planning for various Ryder Cups, making just his fifth major start in nine years. Yet here he is. Four under after 18 holes, and T-2 after the morning wave. In short, on Thursday Luke Donald solved the problem that golfers everywhere face often. He played well on a hard golf course. One that was too long for him and didn't suit his game. The next question is: How? And what can we learn? Let's do some quick election math to figure it out. Luke Donald didn't drive the ball particularly well today. It was better earlier in the round, to be fair, but by the time I went to watch him on the back nine things had gone haywire. I watched him yank a drive into the trees left on the 11th hole, then another one into the trees left on the 12th. Then left again on the 15th. Those were not good drives. But you know what those drives were? Those drives were in play. On each of those occasions Donald punched his ball diagonally up towards the green, leaving him greenside in regulation (a good stat to keep in mind!) and therefore with an up-and-down opportunity. Those three drives, combined, lost more than 1.3 strokes to the field. But had just one of those bad drives finished in a penalty hazard, his strokes lost to the field would've ballooned to almost 2.5. Slogging through big courses tempts you into making unforced errors, which is why it's worth a boring reminder: Any drive in play is a good one. Step 2: Make your next shot better than your bad one You're going to hit bad shots. It's an inevitable part of golf. And despite finishing bogey-free, Donald did, too. Crunch the numbers from his round and you'll find Donald hit seven shots on Thursday which lost more than 0.2 shots to the field, including those three drives mentioned above. But here's something more interesting: On each of those occasions, the next shot was better than the previous one. In short, Donald hit bad shots, but he never hit two bad shots in a row. To be clear, that doesn't mean he always followed a bad shot with a great one. By the stats, that only happened once: On the third hole, when he followed an iffy bunker shot (he lost more than 0.2 strokes on that swing) by making a 12 footer for par (he gained more than 0.7 strokes courtesy of that). Donald describes it simply: when you get out of position, plan a little ahead, focus on getting back into position, and move on. "You're trying to be as specific as you can with you're trying to do and where you're trying to hit it," he says. "When you're out of position off the tee, that's when you start thinking about, okay two, three shots ahead: This pin is here; if I can get it to the right side of the green, I'm chipping up the hill. And that's going to give me an opportunity to get up-and-down...when you're out of position, you're really just trying to get to a place where you have a manageable up and down." Don't chase—it's not how you make up ground. After a bad shot, make it your goal to simply hit a less bad one. It sounds unambitious, but it's more valuable than you think. Notice how the first two parts of the game plan Donald employed on Thursday involved damage limitation. Avoiding disaster, and getting back in position when you find yourself anywhere close. The third part bears some better news. Just as bad shots are inevitable in golf, so are good shots. By the numbers, Donald hit eight good shots on Thursday: Three with his irons (each approach shots that finished inside six feet) and five with his putter (each putts from about 12 feet that he holed). You can't bank on sticking iron shots tight with any frequency. Think of those as a nice surprise. But on courses that don't suit you where you'll miss lots of greens—Donald only hit nine of them on Thursday—know that it's your putting that will make the difference. That 7-15 foot range is particularly crucial, Donald says. "My putting was really, really good today. I made good putts when I needed to, and that was sort of the key to my round," he said. Good putting from seven-to-14 feet is the indispensable skill that will patch the gaps in the other parts of your game on awkward course fits.

After they finished their first round on Thursday morning, Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele both expressed their frustration with playing the ball down this week, and it figures to be a story throughout the championship.

Alex Smalley was the fifth alternate in the PGA Championship when the field was announced last week. He was first alternate when the week began.

For the first time in major championship history, the PGA Championship is offering free concessions to fans holding Championship+ daily grounds tickets this week. Under the all-inclusive food and beverage program, fans can grab an entrée, snack, and non-alcoholic drink as many times as they like at on-course concession venues at no extra charge.