Ryder Cup skipper Luke Donald on the ‘tricky’ mud balls condition at PGA Championship 

Europe team Ryder Cup skipper Luke Donald talked about the conditions at the 2025 PGA Championship. This week's Major is taking place at the Quail Hollow Golf Club, and in the first round of the tournament, Scottie Scheffler struggled with his game while playing with mud balls. He ended up making a double bogey on the 16th hole.

In the post-round press conference, Luke Donald was asked about the mud balls conditions. However, he said that he "didn't have any mud balls."

Donald said (via ASAP Sports):

"I didn't have any mud balls, per se. When it starts to dry out even more, you could get some this afternoon. It was tricky. I was a little bit surprised yesterday when I heard the news yesterday evening just because of how wet it was, but it had dried out quite well, to be honest."

"Two times I had to take casual relief from the fairway, which helped. You know, you can clean it. The rest of the time, it was just sort of a watery, muddy residue on it, at times. It wasn't really lumps of mud, which that's when it gets very dicey."

Luke Donald had a fantastic start to his game at the event, and he settled in tied for fourth place. Jhonattan Vegas shot 64 and took the lead while Scottie Scheffler played a round of 69 and tied for 20th place.

Here are some top finishes after the first 18 holes at the 2025 PGA Championship:

• 1 - Jhonattan Vegas (-7)
• T2 - Ryan Gerard (-5)
• T2 - Cam Davis (-5)
• T4 - Luke Donald (-4)
• T4 - Ryan Fox (-4)
• T4 - Alex Smalley (-4)
• T4 - Stephan Jaeger (-4)
• T4 - Aaron Rai (-4)
• T9 - Alex Noren (-3)
• T9 - J. T. Poston (-3)
• T9 - Ryo Hisatsune (-3)
• T9 - Nico Echavarria (-3)
• T9 - Matt Fitzpatrick (-3)
• T9 - Robert MacIntyre (-3)
• T9 - Rasmus Hojgaard (-3)
• T9 - Keegan Bradley (-3)
• T9 - Tyrrell Hatton (-3)
• T9 - Michael Thorbjornsen (-3)
• T9 - Rafael Campos (-3)

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Luke Donald reflects on his performance at PGA Championship 2025

Donald started his outing at the 2025 PGA Championship on the first tee hole of the Quail Hollow Golf Club. He made two birdies on the front and two on the back nine for a bogey-free round of 4-under 67.

In the post-round press conference, speaking of his performance, Donald said (via ASAP Sports):

"Obviously very pleased with the score, bogey-free in a major. Someone just told me it was the lowest first round in a major I've had since 2004 or something. "

The second round of the 2025 PGA Championship is scheduled to start at 7 a.m. ET on Friday, May 16, with players teeing off in a group of three on the first and tenth holes. The game on Friday will start on the first tee hole, while on the tenth it will start at 7:05 a.m. ET.

Luke Donald will tee off in a group with Padraig Harrington and Martin Kaymer at 12:25 p.m. ET on the tenth hole.