Casey: Opening 72
I didn't put it on the fairway as often as I needed to. And I made it very, very difficult.
Paul Casey
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Paul Casey admitted his overriding feeling was frustration after an opening 72 at the USPGA Championship.
The Englishman, fresh from an excellent showing at Firestone last week, was one of the early starters at Oakland Hills on Thursday and began his first round from the tenth tee.
However, he was always playing catch-up after a double-bogey at his second hole of the day.
He produced a solid recovery with two birdies over the course of his round helping him repair the damage, but was closed with a three-putt at the ninth to fall back to two-over.
"I didn't put it on the fairway as often as I needed to," he explained. "And I made it very, very difficult."
But the real frustration for Casey came at the par-fives (second and twelfth) where he was unable to attack after unfortunate kicks on his tee-shots.
"I think there were two holes that I was frustrated on, the three-putt on the ninth and then the 11th, I actually hit a very good tee shot and it kicked off into the rough and then pulled a four-iron into the bunker for the third shot.
"It's disappointing not to birdie the par-fives because they're both reachable today.
"I hit good shots away that looked pretty good and both times it put me in positions where I couldn't reach the green.
"That was disappointing because you've got to take advantage of those holes - they're few and far between out there."
