Winning major championships is hard. Successfully defending them is even harder. Jason Day made it look pretty easy on Thursday, though, with a 2-under 68 in the first round of the PGA Championship at Baltusrol. Day used three birdies to just one bogey to slide up the leaderboard early on and sits within three of the leader (Jimmy Walker at 5 under) at the time his round ended.

Day actually putted pretty poorly on the day (around No. 100 in the field in strokes gained putting when his round ended) but hit it great. He was first in the field in strokes gained from tee to green with about half of the first round left to go.

"Drove it very nicely and hit a lot of good iron shots," said Day. "I just didn't capitalize on the opportunities that I had out there. It's not disappointing. It is what it is. I haven't had the greatest putting display over the last three weeks that I've played. I think that shows a little bit in the results.

"But for the most part, I feel pretty good about where my head is at and looking forward to the next three days. I hit a lot of good quality shots. To be able to go out there and hit it exactly where I'm going and see the shot and what I need to do and actually execute it was exciting for me. Really positive stuff going into the next three rounds."

Remember: Day has a lot working against him this week as he didn't even see the course until Wednesday afternoon so this first round was even more impressive than it looks. On the other hand, maybe the lack of preparation took off a little bit of the pressure he'd been putting on himself throughout the first three majors of 2016.

Either way, Day did what he needed to do over the first 18 holes. Taking the lead wasn't the main goal. In fact, a first-round leader or co-leader hasn't held on to win a PGA Championship since Phil Mickelson did it at this course in 2005.

"It's probably a little bit more conservative than I usually am," said Day after his round about his strategy this week. "Any given week on the PGA Tour, there's usually a guy ... that gets to 7 or 8 under. I think with a major championship, you have got to be patient, take your opportunities when you can and work yourself up to the lead come Sunday. If you get off to a great start, great. If not, kind of chip away at it.

To Day's point, the eventual winner of this tournament has been within 3.25 strokes of the leader on average in the last eight years. Also, there's this:

Barring a crazy 62 or 63 late on Thursday, Day will be within three or four of the lead on the first day at this year's tournament. And in doing so, he's given himself a chance over the final three rounds to do what only Tiger Woods has ever done: win back-to-back PGA Championships.