Chileans take a step forward in the PGA Championship: Niemann and Mito Pereira are in the top ten after the first round

The first day of the PGA Championship was a special day for the Chileans. Both closed with -2 on their chart, remaining in the tournament’s top 10 and three shots behind the momentary leader. As Mito enjoys the second major of his career, Niemann shows his class on an afternoon when the wind was a torment.

Pereira was one of the first out in Southern Hills, very early in the morning and with still friendly ground. The wind still wasn’t blowing strong and he was far from that cursed enemy that would turn in the afternoon. That’s why Mito took advantage of it. He played with concentration and power, as if he had been there many times, even if it was the play for the first time in the PGA Championship.

And although he started with a bogey on the fourth hole, he overcame it by reversing it with the first put-in of the day at the sixth flag. Loud applause was heard, mainly because at that time it was felt that there would be no weak results on the first day.

Already in the second part of his turn, the discounts returned, albeit accompanied by a punishment. It was on the 12th hole, where Mito could have fallen, but he did the opposite. The mistake on the green, he turned it into motivation and went out the next day to eat the world. And he did.

He birdied at 13, 14 and 17 closing an innings with two under par, five behind the leader and among the tournament’s top ten marks. It’s too early to say the Pirque native could get into the tournament brawl , but without a doubt today will be a special day. Full of new emotions and experiences, but also with the mark of a player who has already requested these instances.

Niemann, for his part, had a very difficult first round, where the conditions turned the par 70 into a much-desired goal. He nailed a bogey to hole two and went through a long stretch without a change, battling time and the pressure of playing a major. But from the age of seven, the best Joaco appeared.

The discounts fell to taste and got birdies on 7, 9, 10 and 13 , signing just one more bogey (flag 8) in those final nine holes. A more than positive run for the Talagan player, who entered the field at the most difficult time of the day.

And if you look at the rest of the results, that -2 is worth a lot. Tiger Woods, the living legend of the PGA, who is playing his second tournament of the year, closed with a painful +4 . Bubba Watson and Jordan Spieth and Hideki Matsuyama all had a more decent finish than the big 15 winner, but still closed their day down with +2 cards.

The leader is the British Rory McIlroy, who signed a card of 65 strokes and five under par , which excited the golfing world to see him lift a middle finger again. For the past eight years he’s been elusive, but after an Augusta Masters where he finally got into the fight, maybe now is the time. It would be the fifth of his career and the third time he would lift the Wanamaker. The former world number one wants to touch the sky again.