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Early PGA leader Ryan Gerard has some history with Quail Hollow

The last time the PGA Championship came to Quail Hollow Club, in 2017, Ryan Gerard was moving into his freshman dorm at North Carolina. Six months later, Gerard and his Tar Heel teammates found themselves standing on Quail’s 18th tee for what seemed like the hundredth time.

The NCAA Championship at Karsten Creek, another big ballpark, was around the corner, so North Carolina head coach Andrew DiBitetto, in his first season at the time, took the six travel players to Quail for some prep work. They finished the day playing the par-4 finishing hole, the final leg of the vaunted “Green Mile” – with one catch.

“Everyone had to play the 18th hole until all six made a par and at the same time in the same group,” said Gerard, who estimated that the Heels, a squad that also included current PGA Tour member Ben Griffin, took four or five tries, or about an hour, until they completed the challenge. DiBitetto quipped that it was “more than once.”

Added Gerard: “I learned a lot about the 18th hole on that day.”

Gerard, now a 25-year-old in his first full season on the PGA Tour, is thankful he didn’t have to replay the 18th hole on Thursday. He bogeyed that hole – and the preceding one as well – to cap the first round of his PGA Championship career. DiBitetto would’ve arguably given him a pass on this day, too, as Gerard collected six birdies and a chip-in eagle earlier in what ended up a 5-under 66, good for a one-shot lead after the morning wave.

“Any time you see your name at the top of the leaderboard, especially in a major, it’s a very good thing,” Gerard said.

Statistically, this isn’t much of a surprise. Gerard entered the week ranked top 10 in scoring, top 25 in scrambling and nearly top 40 in strokes gained off the tee. He’d nearly won a few weeks ago in San Antonio, and he loves grainy Bermudgrass. Gerard’s PGA Tour breakthrough came two years ago at the Honda Classic, where he Monday’d into the field and finished fourth, later grabbing special temporary status and eventually finishing the season with 22 starts. He played last year on the Korn Ferry Tour, where he needed just one season to graduate to the PGA Tour.

This season, Gerard has posted six top-25s, including a pair of top-10s.

“I feel like I’ve playing really solid for a lot of stretches, and I had a couple higher finishes, but I’d say for the most part, I’ve been kind of just hovering in that 15 to 30 range a lot of weeks,” Gerard said. “That’s not a bad thing, but you know, I’m kind of looking to kind of step on the gas here.”

The man tasked with fueling him is instructor Jason Baile, who works out of Jupiter Hills Club and last month was named the PGA of America’s teacher of the year.