Johnson Tied for 143rd After Opening Day at PGA

By ESPN

With two victories and 10 other top-10 finishes, Dustin Johnson has turned himself into golf's most consistent player this year. Which makes his opening round at the PGA Championship all that more surprising.

Johnson opened with a 7-over 77 at Baltusrol Golf Club that included two double-bogeys and just a single birdie. He finished the day tied for 143rd place, ahead of only five other players, three of whom are club professionals.

The score also left him a dozen shots off the lead of Jimmy Walker after just 18 holes.

After back-to-back pars to start his round, Johnson pulled his tee shot on the par-4 third hole and was forced to lay up, then three-putted for double.

He immediately bogeyed three of his next four holes, then posted another double on the 11th hole, when he left his second shot in a fairway bunker. He even failed to take advantage of his length on the two closing par-5s, finishing his round par-bogey.

In his previous seven starts -- which included each of those wins -- Johnson had posted a scoring average of 68.68 with no round lower than 73. His last score as high as Thursday's round was a 77 in the third round of the Players Championship in May.

Johnson's playing partners -- and fellow 2016 major champions -- fared much better in the opening round.

Just 10 days removed from his victory at The Open, Henrik Stenson birdied three of his last seven holes to post a 3-under 67. That put him in a share of fifth place entering Friday's second round.