Now John Daly knows why the PGA Championship has never had a back-to-back stroke-play winner.
The winner has to overcome too much rough, too much water and too many tricky greens to get lucky two years in a row."You don't win the PGA Championship, you survive it," said Jack Nicklaus.
Daly, who dominated Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind., last year with his power drives, couldn't whip Bellerive Country Club's Kentucky bluegrass rough in the opening round Thursday.
Former Masters champion Craig Stadler and journeyman Gene Sauers led a sub-par charge with course-record 4-under-par 67s in perfect conditions to take a stroke lead over Brian Claar, Jay Don Blake and British Open champion Nick Faldo.
The former course record of 68 was held by numerous players, including Ray Floyd and Kel Nagle, who shot their scores in the 1965 U.S. Open at Bellerive.
"I didn't play as well as I would have liked and I'm pleased to shoot 3-under," Faldo said. "I think that's as good as I could have done."
Masters champion Fred Couples had six birdies, but gave them back with a triple bogey and a bogey to finish at 69. He was joined by 49-year-old Floyd, Bob Estes, lefty Russ Cochran, Robert Gamez and Frank Nobilo of New Zealand.
Most of the low rounds were in the morning when the wind was light and the greens were soft. Temperatures were in the 60s, some 15 degrees cooler than normal.
"I thought I was going to shoot 80," said Couples. "On the triple bogey I half-shanked a 7-iron into the water. What I shot was kind of a fluke. But at least I got something to go on. I've got to hit more fairways."
Couples, often criticized for his lack of dedication, said, "I didn't prepare at all. I haven't played in three weeks."
Daly also played in the gentle morning breezes. But it didn't matter because of the way he hit the ball with his Killer Whale driver.
"Not very well," was the way Daly described his prowess with his favorite club, which left him in ankle deep rough all day.
Daly's 76 also left him in no mood to talk.
"When you shoot 5-over par, there's nothing really to talk about," he said.
A year ago, Daly was the last alternate in the tournament and drove all night to get to the site before the first round. He started 69 and 67, and by the weekend had become a national curiosity. He also was the good humor man in the press tent.
On Thursday, he rushed off the course.
The PGA Championship hasn't had a successful defender since Denny Shute in 1936 and 1937, and that's when match play was the format.
Stadler said there were two keys to negotiating Bellerive's testy 7,148 yards.
"You have to hit it in the fairway and you have to play the 3-pars well," he said.
Stadler had three birdie-2s on his card.
"Not many players are going to do that," Stadler said. "Another key was my patience out there, which normally isn't one of my virtues. I think I'm more patient on courses where I know it doesn't take 20-under to win."
Sauers said he also did what Daly didn't do, hit the zoysia fairways.
"The basic key is keeping it in the fairway," said Sauers, who has two victories on the PGA Tour and over $2 million in winnings.
Daly wasn't the only big name star to stumble. U.S. Open champion Tom Kite finished double-bogey, bogey for a 73.
Tom Watson, who needs to capture the PGA to join Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gene Sarazen and Gary Player as the only winners of every major, shot 72 with a bogey on the last hole.
Arnold Palmer, 62, also still seeking the only major that has eluded him, shot 79.
Jack Nicklaus, a five-time winner, shook off a double-bogey on the 195-yard, par-3 No. 6 and shot 72.