TULSA, Okla. – To borrow a terrific title from XTC, a band from Swindon, England, Englishman Graeme Storm was “King for a Day.”
Storm, the former cake-factory worker who struggled to keep his playing privileges on the European Tour, shocked the golf world Thursday by charging to the first-round lead at the PGA Championship, shooting a bogey-free, 5-under-par 65.
His two-shot lead entering yesterday’s second round, however, slowly disintegrated as he followed his magical opening round with a 6-over-par 76 to fall to 1-over for the tournament.
“I obviously played really well yesterday and everything went my way,” Storm said. “Today anything that could go wrong did go wrong.”
Asked if he felt differently leading a major, Storm said, “Yes, I did feel differently. It’s a great experience, one I’ll learn from. But hopefully I can have a good weekend. I’m not that far away from where the leaders are now.
“I am disappointed that I’m not where I started, but I’ll take it on the chin and just come back fine (today).”
Storm said he “tried to chill out as much as I could” Thursday night, adding, “I got to sleep early for me, at 10, and unfortunately I woke up between 2 and 2:30 on and off because I was worried about missing my alarm clock.”
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Phil Mickelson climbed his way back to respectability with a 1-under-par 69 to stand at 2-over for the tournament and not out of it. He, however, left the course frustrated, feeling like he should have scored better.
Mickelson reiterated that his injured left wrist is not a factor.
“This is the first week I feel just terrific,” he said. “I haven’t had any problems, haven’t even thought about it. It feels great. My hand feels pretty good, and I’m excited about playing golf. I just, again, want to get the ball in the hole a little quicker.”
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British Open champion Padraig Harrington, who played Thursday and yesterday with Masters champion Zach Johnson and U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera, was asked if it was fun playing with his fellow 2007 major winners.
“It was fun when we started out,” Harrington said. “Once we got going, we’re all trying to play well and get ourselves into the tournament. Obviously, Angel had one bad hole (his 10 on the par-3 6th Thursday) that cost him. While it was enjoyable, it would have been better if all three of us played really well.”
Harrington is the only one of the trio to make the cut, standing at 2-over. Johnson finished 10-over and Cabrera 11-over.
