PGA Championship still a non-starter

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- With the 90th PGA Championship being played just outside the Motor City, it must be said that the tournament so far is like a promising-looking car whose engine refuses to turn over.

Sergio Garcia birdies the par-5 12th hole, then sticks his tee shot on 13 to around six feet for possibly his second birdie in a row and a share of the lead. Of course he misses the putt.

Phil Mickelson reaches a greenside bunker on 12 with his second shot, but fails to get up and down, cards a dispiriting par and stays at 1 over.

Here's what the Detroit Free Press printed about its own hometown tournament today:

With Tiger missing in action, unknowns taking the lead, a weather delay and the mayor's jail time dominating the news, the first round was one of the most forgettable in major history.

What it didn't mention was the beginning of the Beijing Olympics, but you get the point.

The Detroit News chimed in with a column by Lynn Henning headlined: "Opening round is very quiet."

The piece cited the depressed local economy, the lack of Tiger and the lack of birdies on a course that recalls not so much a normal PGA but a U.S. Open.

Mickelson was practicing his putting at 10:30 a.m. Friday, well before his tee time, calmly stroking ball after ball for several minutes. He was watched by 14 people, some of them volunteers.

But wait! Mickelson just birdied 13, just one off the lead; maybe this baby will turn over yet.