PGA Championship Winners and Losers: Xander, a Fresh TV Broadcast and the Inevitable End of the Block Party

The ESPNBET feed was a pleasant surprise on Day 1 of the PGA Championship. Plus more from the opening round.

Xander Schauffele seized the lead and set a scoring record on Thursday at Valhalla. / Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Day 1 of the 2024 PGA Championship is in the books, and there are winners and losers on both sides of the cut line. We call ’em like we see ’em around here. They are:

Winners

The ESPNBET Broadcast: Earlier this month, ESPN and the PGA of America announced a three-year agreement to make the network the PGA’s official betting sponsor. On Thursday viewers got a first look at the fruits of that partnership. The hole-by-hole bets and play by play were outstanding. Michael Collins's analysis from the fairway of Tiger Woods, Adam Scott and Keegan Bradley was fun and entertaining. The No Laying Up crew took over in the afternoon and were also a great time. Golf needs a big dose of fun to make the sport entertaining for viewers and ESPNBET provided it. A couple more things we’d love to see: walk-and-talk interviews with Collins and minicams on the hats of players.

Xander Schauffele: Opens with 62 to set a PGA Championship scoring record and matches the all-time major championship mark, which he also shares. At No. 3 in the world, he’s squarely on the dreaded Best Player Without a Major list. Thursday was one small step toward removing himself from it.

Viktor Hovland: Remember him? The 2023 FedEx Cup champion and Ryder Cup standout had been in the wilderness this year, searching for his swing and posting just one top-20 in seven starts. But he reunited with swing coach Joe Mayo recently and an opening 68 showed that may have been a wise move. 

Jon Rahm: Give credit where it’s due: the Spaniard bogeyed four of his first six holes and looked like he wanted to be anywhere but Kentucky, then made six birdies and one bogey the rest of the way to post 70. That’s a major-champion grind.

Losers

Michael Block: Hey, it was fun while it lasted, but at some point the music was going to stop. No PGA professional has made back-to-back cuts in this event since 1993. Block made a quadruple-bogey 8 on No. 2 and signed for 76, leaving the odds heavily stacked against him seeing the weekend.

Joaquin Niemann: Three bogeys over the last five holes to shoot 2-over 73, not a good first day for the LIV Golf 2024 points leader.

Phil Mickelson: Oh, Phil. Started bogey-double bogey, climbed back to 1 under through 14, then finished bogey-bogey-par-double to post 3-over 74. Too many self-inflicted errors and now he’ll need a low one to make the weekend.