Jon Rahm's hopes of winning a second major this season took a significant hit Thursday as the Masters champion shot a dismal 6-over-par 76 in the opening round of the PGA Championship.
Rahm opened his day with a par on hole No. 1, then quickly bogeyed Holes 2 and 3 to go 2 over. Things only got worse on the rest of the front nine; he bogeyed and double-bogeyed on 6 and 7 to go 5 over. A birdie on 8 and a par on 9 sent him into the back nine at 4 over.
It briefly seemed as if Rahm could salvage his opening round at Oak Hill Country Club as he birdied No. 10 to get to 3 over for the round. But he was unable to build any momentum, with five straight pars — including the par-5 13th — before bogeying three holes in a row.
Rahm's 76 was a far cry from how the world No. 1 golfer played in April when he resoundingly won the Masters with a 12-under score. If he doesn't have a significantly better second round Friday, he could very well miss the cut in Rochester, N.Y.
LIVE: PGA Championship golf scores, results, highlights from Thursday's Round 1
Here's everything you need to know about Jon Rahm's opening round at the 2023 PGA Championship:
Jon Rahm PGA Championship scorecard
| Hole (par) | Score (to par) | Round 1 score |
| 1 (4) | 4 | Even |
| 2 (4) | 5 | 1 over |
| 3 (3) | 4 | 2 over |
| 4 (5) | 5 | 2 over |
| 5 (3) | 3 | 2 over |
| 6 (4) | 5 | 3 over |
| 7 (4) | 6 | 5 over |
| 8 (4) | 3 | 4 over |
| 9 (4) | 4 | 4 over |
| 10 (4) | 3 | 3 over |
| 11 (3) | 3 | 3 over |
| 12 (4) | 4 | 3 over |
| 13 (5) | 5 | 3 over |
| 14 (4) | 4 | 3 over |
| 15 (3) | 3 | 3 over |
| 16 (4) | 5 | 4 over |
| 17 (4) | 5 | 5 over |
| 18 (4) | 5 | 6 over |
Jon Rahm's historically bad score at PGA Championship
According to ESPN Stats & Info, Rahm's 6-over opening round at Oak Hill beat the previous worst to-par score in the opening round of PGA Championship by a world No. 1 golfer. The previous mark was 5 over, by Greg Norman in 1980 and Tiger Woods in 2005.
Justin Ray of The Athletic offered more context about Rahm's score: It was the worst opening-round score by a defending Masters champion in the next major of the season since Bubba Watson shot 76 at the 2014 U.S. Open.
Ray also reported that Rahm will have to shake a seemingly unbreakable historical trend if he wants to win the Wanamaker Trophy in 2023
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PGA Championship projected cut line
The top 70 players and ties will make the cut at the PGA Championship. Normally, that would be no problem for a golfer of Rahm's caliber, but he has significant ground to make up in Friday's Round 2 in order to advance to weekend play.
As of the time of this writing, Rahm was tied for 130th at Oak Hill, and 73 players would make the cut at Oak Hill with a two-round score of 1 over. If the cut line remains static, he would need to gain five strokes on Friday just to make the cut.