© Matthew Hinton/Imagn
The PGA Championship is widely regarded as the least prestigious of golf’s four major tournaments. Combine that fact with a course in Quail Hollow that lacks much in the way of history or prestige, and you can understand why fans were not super excited about the 2025 PGA Championship.
Well, if they weren’t excited before the tournament began, they certainly aren’t now. Midway through the opening round of the 2025 PGA Championship, the leaderboard looks more like something you’d find at one of the PGA Tour’s opposite field events, which coincide with the tour’s larger tournaments and involve fields full of players well down the Official World Golf Rankings.
As of the time of writing, Ryan Gerard leads the tournament after shooting a 5-under 66. Who is Ryan Gerard? We’re glad you asked. The 25-year-old is in his first full season on the PGA Tour. He has zero PGA Tour wins and just two professional wins, once on the Korn Ferry Tour and once on the Canadian PGA Tour, which I’ve just learned existed. Gerard played in both the 2022 and 2023 US Opens, missing the cut and finishing in a tie for 56th.
PGA Championship Leaderboard Badly Lacks Firepower As Fans Blast Quail Hollow
Behind him sits Luke Donald at 4-under. Donald, to his credit, is a former world No. 1 with several top-10s in major tournaments and multiple big wins. But he’s also 47 years old and last finished in the top 25 of a major championship in 2015.
Donald is tied at 4-under with Ryan Fox, Alex Smalley, Stephan Jaeger, and J.J. Spaun. The four of them have combined for three PGA Tour wins. Then comes a large group at 3-under, which includes Keegan Bradley as the biggest name. Not until you reach world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who sits in a tie for 15th at 2-under, do you find a player with a major victory in this decade.
As you can imagine, golf fans were not exactly thrilled with the makeup of the leaderboard.
The current leaderboard at the PGA Championship feels more like the Puerto Rico Open than it does a major championship. pic.twitter.com/svwkauvHXn
— Chris McKee (@mrmckee) May 15, 2025
PGA Championship Round 1 Leaderboard so far pic.twitter.com/FlfCVF54wl
— brown panther (@LongJonSilver44) May 15, 2025
The PGA Championship leaderboard pic.twitter.com/LK3DwDOCqu
— Michael Ritter (@MikeSteveRitter) May 15, 2025
Now listen, we’re less than one round into a four-round tournament. Eventually, some of the world’s best will work their way into the picture. And it’s not Ryan Gerard’s fault he played better than everyone else. But Quail Hollow and the PGA Championship were already under the microscope, and this sure isn’t going to help.