Louisville, KY – May 16, 2024 – Jeff Kellen (North Shore Country Club) and Andy
Svoboda (Butler National Golf Club) completed their first rounds of play today in the
2024 PGA Championship, taking place at Valhalla Golf Club. Kellen, who is making his
first career Major Championship appearance, fired an opening round 87. Svoboda, who
is making his first PGA Championship appearance, fired an opening round 74.
It was a day that started out calm, with a morning fog sprawling out over the entire
property as players arrived for the morning wave of tee times. Kellen, who teed off in the
second group of the day behind last year’s PGA Championship hero Michael Block,
found himself battling to stay at level par early. A bogey on the first was steadied by a
par save on the second hole for Kellen, who hit the ball well on the front-nine. Minor
mistakes off of the tee ultimately led to some high numbers for Kellen, who still
managed to hold his own in his first Major Championship appearance.
For Svoboda, Major Championships are not unfamiliar, with five U.S. Open
appearances under his belt. His pairing rounded out the morning wave at Valhalla, a
wave that proved to have scored better than the afternoon wave. Svoboda played a
fairly steady round as the crowds around Valhalla began to build. A pair of pars on 12
and 13 wrote the ship after a double bogey five on the par-three 11 th . In total, Svoboda
rattled off 14 pars on the day, enough to keep him afloat in the Championship at 3-over-
par.
Friday proves to be a day of challenges for the entire field. The golf course dried out
relatively well Thursday after multiple days of rain in the week leading up to the
Championship, but the greens remained soft. Rain returns to the forecast on Friday and
aims to add to an already saturated golf course.
Jeff Kellen joins the second group of the day off in the afternoon on Friday, with a
12:51pm starting time.
Andy Svoboda once again rounds out his respective wave, teeing off at 2:46pm on
Friday.
Stay tuned to PGA of America social media channels, and PGAChampionship.com for
live scoring Friday.