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What they said: The best quotes from the first round of the PGA Championship

Canada’s Corey Conners is the early pace-setter at Kiawah Island, carding a 5-under-par 67 to grab a two shot lead over a chasing pack of six.

The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island was a proper test in round one of the PGA Championship.

With waste areas, high grass and gnarly plant roots lining the fairways it was always going to be tricky, but the high-ish wind exaggerated the difficulty.

It was not as brutal as some thought it might be, but it was tough enough and there is potential for the difficulty to rise over the next three days.
Corey Conners grabbed the early glory, carding an excellent 5-under-par 67 that left him two shots clear of a six-man pack of chasers that includes 2011 PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley, two-time tournament winner Brooks Koepka and the in-form Viktor Hovland.
Friday morning's early starters should get the best of the weather, with the wind blowing gently but growing in intensity throughout the day to a peak of around 23mph late in the afternoon (gusts will be stronger all day).

Paddy Power's prices are typical and have Conners favourite on 15/2, with Hovland 8/1 and Koepka 10/1.

Let's take a look at the best lines from Thursday.

Brooks Koepka on making double bogey:

"Probably a poor club choice. I thought 3-wood would have carried, but it didn't. The first rule is, if you're in trouble, get the hell out. I couldn't reach the green. It was a bad lie. Didn't know where I was going. Just tried to hit a pull sand wedge up by the green instead of just chopping it out. Mental mistake there. Deserved every bit of that double bogey. But it kind of helped refocus."

Brooks Koepka on thriving in the Majors:

"You just said it. It's a major. I'm going to show up. I'm ready to play. I've been itching to do this since Augusta. I love it when it's difficult. I think that's why I do so well in the majors. I know mentally I can grind it out. Like when it's windy like this, it's not so much putting, it's more about ball striking. You've got to understand that sometimes par is a good score and that 30, 35 feet is a great shot sometimes, and you've just got to accept it and move on."

Corey Conners on leading:

"Definitely I have a lot of belief in myself and I've been playing well for a while. I have a lot of confidence in my game and I'm excited for the rest of the week. It's impossible to be stress-free around this golf course. You can't fall asleep out there on any holes. It's very challenging. I was fortunate to have a good day."

Keegan Bradley on loving the layout:

"I know this is a good course for me. Any round you come out of a major and play well at, it feels good because you know the courses are set up tough. It's a little more pressure. The atmosphere's different. So when you go out there and you perform, it feels good, especially on a course like this."

Xander Schauffele on Viktor Hovland:

"I wasn't really the guy to make a lot of birdies today. I played with Viktor Hovland. He played really solid golf. It was really impressive to watch, and just trying to chase after him."

Bryson DeChambeau on the exertions of a Major week:

"This is the most difficult golf course that I've played on Tour and that is a straight-up fact for me. It requires a lot of energy. I'm not like at wit's end or anything, it's stuff I do every week. Practice rounds, working hard on my golf swing, getting the putting right, trying to figure out how much the wind is affecting putts, all that, and then trying to work out after and not getting eight hours of sleep sometimes, it all adds up, for sure."

Tyrrell Hatton on having terrible prep:

"I didn't feel like I was going to have a good day with just how bad I actually did hit it, with how bad my warm-up was today. I think I forgot how to swing a golf club. I was pretty miserable. The dummy was out on the driving range. I wasn't a happy boy walking to the tee. I didn't feel very comfortable with the first few holes, fortunate that they were downwind."

Jason Dufner on liking Dye designs:

"I think the par-5s are really good. I think all of the par-5s are really good. They're all a little different. One thing that Pete Dye did really well, most of the golf courses I've played that he's designed, he makes you play through the bag. So I think I've used almost every club in my bag today. That tests you."

Will Zalatoris on chasing a hat trick of Major top 10s:

"It's a major championship. This is what you work for and obviously I've had a nice little run of majors. The tougher the golf course, the more it favours me. The last five holes I was kind of in cruise control. Had chances and did everything I needed to do to play well. It's there. I feel ready. Game feels like it's peaking right now, just got to run the tables."

Steve Stricker on the test:

"If you get out of position here, you're struggling. The lies become something that you've never seen before, stances become a challenge. It becomes very difficult if you hit it off-line and it can happen in a hurry. If you get that ball spinning in the wrong direction and it gets going with the wind, it can end up just about anywhere. It's a fair test but it's a big challenge, too."

Joaquin Niemann on playing in wind:

"I love hitting shots in these conditions, you've got to hit the shots. It's a lot of fun. You can play with the wind and with the trajectory of the shots. That's what I like about playing golf. In Chile there is not much wind, but I just liked playing around with the shots. Since I was young, me and my coach, we always like to go on the range and play around the trees, hit it low, hit it high, like just mess around. It gives me a lot of creativity on the course."

Collin Morikawa on why the Majors suit him:

"You just have to hit quality iron shots and quality drives. I thought I did that really well today. Normally at Major, if the rough is really long, you have to hit it straight. Out here, when the wind is up like this, and it's going to hopefully be up like that the rest of the week, you have to just hit good drives. A miss is going to be exaggerated so when you're in the fairway, you have to take advantage of it."

Shane Lowry on being close:

"I played great today. I was hitting good shot after good shot after good shot. My putter let me down big time. I had four great chances from inside ten feet. Hole a couple of those … I should be right in the tournament. But I feel like the way I'm playing I am in the tournament."

READ MORE: It's shaping up to be a good week for Viktor Hovland: Can he push on and win the PGA Championship?

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