Wonder how it feels to be a no-name player near the lead of a major championship?
Just ask unheralded Frenchman Mike Lorenzo-Vera, who shot 2-under 68 in the opening round of the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black on Thursday morning and was just five shots off the lead of Brooks Koepka.
“If I continue playing like that, I’m going to sleep less and less, shake more and more,” Lorenzo-Vera said. “I know what’s waiting [for] me the few days coming. First of all, I’m going to have a good rest, speak to my psychologist, I guess, and then here we go.”
The 34-year-old Lorenzo-Vera is ranked No. 115 in the world and was a special invite by the PGA of America. This is his third career major championship, including the PGA a year ago at Bellerive outside of St. Louis, at which he finished 65th.
Lorenzo-Vega plays on the European Tour, but his best win came on the minor league tour, called the Challenge Tour. He finished tied for second earlier this season in Qatar, and tied for fifth in China.
But a major championship is certainly a different level.
“I knew that was going to be a huge mental test here, and I was ready,” he said from under his impressive mustache. “My head was ready to go there. Sometimes my swing was not, but my head was ready. Tough to keep the head where it should be, so very proud of what I’ve done.”
Retired Mets legend David Wright was named an ambassador for the PGA Championship, and he quickly remembered how passionate New York fans can be.
“Kind of walking by, the ‘Let’s Go Mets’ chants, and a lot of well-wishers, so pretty cool,” Wright said. “Really neat to see how everybody wearing the Mets hats and the Yankees hats come out and support a different sport. Still pretty rowdy and loud.”
Rickie Fowler had an unsightly double-bogey on his first hole of the day, No. 10, early in the morning. But he managed to fight back and shoot a 1-under 69.
“I’m just happy starting with double to turn that into a red number,” he said. “We’ll go look at that 63 [from Koepka] and see if we can chase down Brooks and have some fun.”
Long-haired Pat Perez shot a tidy 2-under 68, and he was hoping the torn calf that plagued him earlier in the season didn’t come back to haunt him after walking the monstrous Black course.
“I’ve got to keep … working on it to try to loosen it up so it doesn’t tear again,” he said. “It doesn’t hurt. I don’t have any pain.”
Perez is also trying to tame the course that he said “always had my number. It’s so long, it’s so hard, I’ve never played well here. It could be one of the best rounds I’ve ever put together, especially in a major.”