Harrington's unusually negative pre-battle assertion comes to fruition 

Shane Lowry of Ireland and Padraig Harrington of Ireland. When Lowry found an opening bogey he may have feared he too was going to be sent screeching out onto the same route 74 where his compatriots had sputtered.

Shane Lowry watched his three countrymen spend a mostly taxing morning out on Aronimink’s rolling hills and then went out to face the afternoon traffic jams on the tee boxes. 

A round of 18 holes was taking players the better part of six hours.

When Lowry found an opening bogey he may have feared he too was going to be sent screeching out onto the same route 74 where his compatriots had sputtered.

Rory McIlroy, Padraig Harrington and Tom McKibbin all carded identical 4-over totals in the morning wave of the opening day at the PGA Championship as Aronimink proved a compelling challenge to the 156-strong field.

Harrington’s eve-of-battle assertion that “I'm actually as negative as I could be right now” didn’t bode well given he has been one of the most consistently positive figures in Irish sport for the guts of 30 years.

The Dubliner, PGA champion in 2008, had to battle that negativity for fully 15 holes before his first birdie of the day arrived on the long 16th. 

That brought him back to 3-over for the day but he immediately gave another back with an errant tee shot on the par-3 17th. A par on the last left Harrington in an early, but ugly, tie for 123rd where he had two Ulstermen for company.

Lowry did his damnedest to avoid joining them. 

He settled after the first bogey and found four pars before a gorgeous wedge on the sixth left him with a kick-in birdie to get back to even-par. He bunkered his tee shot to the short eighth and it proved costly as a bogey four put him back in black numbers.

But the 39-year-old, who undoubtedly has the short game to thrive around Aronimink, gave a spectacular affirmation of just that on the next. From 40 yards back on the fringes of the huge ninth green he sent a perfect pitch and run bounding towards the hole. 

It dropped for an eagle which left Lowry turning under par and in positive mood.

McIlroy’s thoughts on his first round were brief and explicit. His one-time protege endured a similarly frustrating opening exchange with the Donald Ross-designed track. 

Tom McKibbin would likely have arrived to the year’s major week eager to put LIV uncertainties behind him for a few days. 

Instead his opening round proved to be a fitting tribute to the Saudis’ upstart tour. It started with a big bang before faltering early and often and left facing into what could well be quite the short shelf life.

McKibbin, playing in his second PGA Championship, got off to a perfect start with a birdie on the first but then produced six bogeys in a nine-hole stretch from the fourth to the 12th. A couple of birdies coming in were offset by one more bogey on the 15th hole to card a very erratic 74.

It could always have been worse. Bryson DeChambeau continued to plumb major championship depths as he signed for a 76 which was very much in keeping with his recent history on golf’s biggest days. 

Five bogeys and a double on the short eighth, his 17th, left the LIV figurehead threatening to be last of all. His lone birdie of the day came on the last and a second-straight missed cut at a major beckons.

There was a stark contrast to be found out in the verdant green when looking at DeChambeau and his one-time rival, then fellow LIV defector Brooks Koepka.

The 36-year-old looked much closer to something resembling a multiple major winner. 

Having agreed his return to the PGA Tour earlier this season Koepka has begun a climb back to his best, which not all that long ago was good enough to raise and re-raise the Wanamaker Trophy — three times between 2018 and 2023.

The only blight on Koepka’s form of late has been the shortest stick. Thursday was a perfect distillation of the issue. By mid-afternoon, the data showed Koepka as first overall in strokes gained from ball striking. But in strokes gained putting he was 127th.

“I feel good. Every round just seems to be the worst I can shoot. Putter is absolutely horrendous,” said Koepka. “Ball striking is absolutely phenomenal. That's been the story of the year. Hopefully we can figure out a way to turn this around.”