Bradley Is the Mayor of Riviera With a 63 : Golf: He equals best round in a major, but it’s good for only one-shot lead over Gallagher and O’Meara.

It’s a good thing the greens at Riviera Country Club are all marked up or there is no telling how low the scores would have gone in the first round of the PGA Championship.

Michael Bradley, a 29-year-old third-year pro without a tour victory, shot a record-tying 63 in his first round ever in the PGA to lead the assault.

When the unknown Bradley rolled in his final par putt, there were less than 300 people left around the 18th green, and many of them weren’t even watching.

“I’d like three more of them,” Bradley said about his 63. He missed a 20-foot birdie putt on the last hole that would have given him the lowest round ever in a major championship.

“I missed it just left. I was a little bit nervous, to be honest,” he said. “There was a pretty good spike mark about eight feet in front of the ball, but I don’t know if it hit it. I was just trying not to hit the ball fat.”

As remarkable as Bradley’s round was, he was only one stroke ahead of Mark O’Meara and Jim Gallagher Jr.

Two back at 65 was John Adams, an 18-year pro who has never won a tour event. He turned the front nine in 29 and was eight under through 14 holes but bogeyed two of the last four holes.

Nearly everyone took advantage of the soft, receptive greens to hit for the flag. A total of 57 players broke par, and 43 of those shot in the 60s. All scoring records may have been shattered if the greens weren’t ripped up with spike marks so tall they cast shadows in the afternoon sun.

“If you get out there and look at the greens you’ll understand why you don’t want to have too many three- and four-footers,” said Greg Norman, who was three strokes back at 66 along with Chip Beck, Gil Morgan, Jeff Maggert, Lee Janzen and Ernie Els.

But the soft greens and even softer fairways more than made up for the bumpy greens.

“Sometimes in this game you get in a little zone out there and get comfortable,” said O’Meara.

O’Meara missed only one fairway while making eight birdies and one bogey. Gallagher got the last of his seven birdies in a bogey-free round on the difficult 18th hole.

Bradley made six threes on the front nine, including an eagle on the 503-yard first hole, while shooting a 30, and birdied Nos. 16 and 17 to get to eight under. He made no bogeys and rolled in five putts of 15 to 25 feet, including a 20-footer for the eagle on No. 1.

There has been only one other 63 in the first round of the PGA, by Raymond Floyd in 1982. It was a seven-under-par round at the par-70 Southern Hills. Floyd went on to win the tournament.

No one has shot below 63 in any round of any of the four major championships, and Bradley became only the 16th player to shoot the score.

Thursday’s birdie barrage could be a hint of what is to come.

“If you are playing good, you can fire right at the pins,” Norman said. “You’re going to have to make a lot of birdies out here to give yourself a chance on Sunday.”

Lennie Clements, Sandy Lyle, Mark Brooks and club pro Frank Dobbs were four strokes back at 67. Masters champion Ben Crenshaw was in a group at 68. And Jack Nicklaus was in a group at 69 along with Nick Faldo.

Defending champion Nick Price shot even-par 71, a miserable score on this day.

Favorite Corey Pavin, who has won the Nissan Open at Riviera the last two years and is trying to become only the fourth player to win the U.S. Open and the PGA in the same year, struggled early and finished at even-par 71.

British Open champion John Daly followed a persistent wild hook off the tee into the most dangerous corners of Riviera and stumbled home with a 76, missing fairway after fairway.

That was not a problem for O’Meara.

“On this golf course you’ve got to drive the ball well,” O’Meara said. He missed only the 10th fairway when he pushed a one-iron into the right rough, and still made a birdie when he rolled in a 20-foot putt.

“There was not a lot of wind, and with the greens a little soft, you can go right at them,” he said.

The rebuilt greens of Riviera remain a distraction for the players.

There was a seemingly endless replay of missed putts, or barely made ones, followed by tapping down spike marks with putters.

The greens, rebuilt in 1993, have not come in well and were tearing up at the slightest touch.

On No. 9, Pavin three-putted from 10 feet, missing an 18-incher and then tapped at spike marks with his putter and stared at the green.

“It’s an unfortunate situation,” O’Meara said. “They look like they are spiked up pretty good out there, but the ball is still rolling right. Everyone has to deal with it.”