New Caddie, New Results as Philadelphia Cricket Club Yields Low Scores

Philadelphia Cricket Club proved no match for the PGA Tour’s elite on Thursday, as players took full advantage of soft conditions in the opening round of the 2025 Truist Championship. While Keith Mitchell stole the show with a career-low 61 to take the lead, Collin Morikawa validated our pre-tournament prediction with an impressive 7-under 63.

Playing his first competitive round with new caddie Joe Greiner, Morikawa looked comfortable and confident as he navigated the classic layout. His precision iron play was on full display, giving him numerous birdie opportunities throughout the day.

“The greens being receptive, not much wind, new venue,” explained Denny McCarthy, who fired a 62 to sit alone in second place. “When we have short irons and wedges with not much wind, we’re looking to attack, and it seems like a lot of guys have done that today.”

Loaded Leaderboard Emerges

Joining Morikawa at 7-under are Rickie Fowler, Sepp Straka, and Akshay Bhatia. Fowler’s performance was particularly encouraging as he’s struggled for most of 2025 after a strong fall season.

“I’ve been happy with where my game’s been at for quite a while. I just haven’t really seen the product of the work I’m putting in or what I feel like I can produce,” Fowler said after making a minor equipment adjustment that paid immediate dividends. “We made a minor adjustment yesterday, put my irons a degree up. I felt like I was making good swings and zeroing things out, and the ball was just hanging a little right from what I wanted to see.”

Major champions Keegan Bradley and Shane Lowry sit just one shot further back at 6-under, while Patrick Cantlay and Hideki Matsuyama posted 65s. Masters champion Rory McIlroy and recent RBC Heritage winner Justin Thomas both opened with solid 4-under 66s while playing together.

Mitchell’s Thursday Magic Continues

For Mitchell, leading after the first round has become something of a pattern in 2025. The one-time PGA Tour winner has been stellar on Thursdays this season with a sub-67 scoring average and four overnight leads. Unfortunately, he’s yet to convert any of those fast starts into weekend success as he searches for his first victory since 2019.

“Three more rounds like today will probably do it, and trying not to win on Friday and Saturday and Sunday, just trying to play my best,” Mitchell said of his mindset. “It’s harder — I’ve made it pretty hard lately. Hopefully, I can just stay in front of it.”

Weather Could Reshape Tournament

The weather forecast calls for significant rain on Friday, with as much as half an inch expected to fall on the course. Tournament officials have pushed up tee times in hopes of avoiding the worst of it, meaning players will experience a quick turnaround and potentially very different playing conditions.

“It’s all weather dependent, depending on what we see tomorrow,” Fowler noted. “The big thing, when conditions are like this, you want to make sure you take advantage of it so you’re not trying to play catch-up and kind of play from behind the 8 ball.”

Jordan Spieth, who fired a final-round 62 at last week’s Byron Nelson, struggled on Thursday with an even-par 70, more than three strokes worse than the field average. Despite his early troubles, Spieth rallied with birdies on three of his final five holes to salvage his round.

With a $20 million purse on the line and next week’s PGA Championship looming at Quail Hollow, the star-studded field will be looking to build momentum heading into the year’s second major championship.