PGA Notes: Love takes clubbing for choice on No. 17

MEDINAH, Ill. — One swing and Davis Love III went from a really great score to one that was just OK.

Love went with the wrong club on the par-3 17th on Thursday afternoon and paid for it with a triple bogey that took him from the top of the PGA Championship leaderboard to one of the pack. He wound up with a 4-under 68, leaving him two strokes behind leaders Chris Riley and Lucas Glover.

"Obviously, I'd like to have two or three swings over again," said Love, the 1997 PGA winner. "All in all, it's a good start. I'm not leading, but I'm off to a good start."

But he was so close to being so much better.

Love, who needs a top finish here to earn a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, played with purpose early on and was at 6-under after seven holes. He opened with back-to-back birdies and had two more on Nos. 4 and 5 and then had an eagle on the par-5 No. 7 to take a share of the lead.

The lead was all his after a birdie on the par-5 10th, but he gave that stroke right back with a bogey. Then he took advantage of the last par 5 with a birdie on No. 14.

Then came No. 17, a brutal par 3, even playing only 191 yards. Since the PGA was last at Medinah Country Club in 1999, the hole has been redesigned, the tee pushed back and the green lowered so it now sits almost level with Lake Kadijah.

Play it wrong, and you'll pay — as Love quickly learned.

"I just hit the wrong club," he said. "My caddie wanted me to hit a 7-iron and I was first up and I just wasn't comfortable. So I tried to cut a 6 and hit a draw 6 instead, and that combination doesn't work real well."

Love has been on every U.S. Ryder Cup team since 1993, the longest active streak by an American, and was fourth in the ranking system at the start of the year. The top 10 make the squad, along with two picks by captain Tom Lehman.

But Love has had a tough year, failing to make the cut at both the U.S. and British opens and going from the lead to missing the weekend at The Players Championship. He came into this week 15th in the rankings.

Alternate reality

Two days ago, Billy Andrade was sitting in an Atlanta-area movie theater watching "You, Me and Dupree" with his wife, Jody.

When he emerged two hours later, he received a phone call alerting him that he had a spot in the field for the PGA Championship.

"When I went into the matinee, I was the third alternate," Andrade said in a news conference. "I came out and I'm in the tournament. It's a bonus when you get the call."

He then shot a bogey-free 5-under 67 in the first round and sits in third place at the final major tournament of the year.

Andrade, who began the week as the seventh alternate and slowly climbed the list as players began to drop out, finally got into the 156-player field when 1995 PGA Championship winner Steve Elkington withdrew.

"I guess I will have to send Steve a Christmas card," Andrade, 42, said.

He flew to the course from Atlanta on Wednesday morning and played a practice round in the afternoon before teeing off at 7:30 a.m. local time today.

Andrade was the ninth alternate at the 1998 PGA Championship in Redmond before getting the call. An opening-round 68 put him in second place. He finished 44th after rounds of 77, 68 and 75.

Mayfair inspires

If the PGA Championship had a feel-good story, it was Billy Mayfair's 3-under 69.

Two weeks to the day after he underwent surgery to remove a cancerous testicle, Mayfair did not just make it around Medinah, he held the first-round lead for a time at 6 under.

"The great thing out there today was probably the fans and just all the encouragement and everybody rooting me on," said the 40-year-old Mayfair, who has been swamped all week with messages from well-wishers.

Notes

• Olin Browne scored a hole-in-one with a 6-iron from 191 yards on the 17th hole.

It was Browne's third ace in a PGA Tour event. He also had one at the 1994 AT&T National Pro-Am and at the 2001 U.S. Open.

• Jerry Haas won round No. 1 of the Haas brother matchup. The younger brother of tour veteran Jay Haas shot a 2-over 74 in the first round, beating his brother by a shot.

The two were paired together Thursday, the first time brothers have competed together in the PGA Championship since Lanny and Bobby Wadkins in 1995.