Even if Brooks Koepka gets the last laugh, at least Brandel Chamblee can laugh about it.

Koepka, the three-time major winner and this week's defending champion, has been in a month-long back-and-forth with Chamblee, the Golf Channel analyst, that took its latest turn on Thursday at Bethpage.

Koepka began his title defense with a 7-under-par 63, setting a new Black Course record and staking himself to the Day 1 lead at the PGA Championship.

This, after Chamblee has criticized Koepka over the last month for engaging in "reckless self-sabotage" in slimming down for a reported ESPN Body Issue photo shoot and questioned his toughness.

"I've been flipped off a few times in my life – probably not as often as you'd think – but I felt like he was giving me the finger for 4 1/2 hours out there today," Chamblee said on Thursday night's edition of "Golf Central Live From the PGA."

Most recently, Koepka tweeted out a photoshopped image of Chamblee in a clown nose after the analyst cited only Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy among players who could hang with Tiger Woods at his best.

RT @dylan_dethier: please, nobody tell Brooks Koepka https://t.co/bWkeoOlCXo pic.twitter.com/DJ7CYbZO8h

— Brooks Koepka (@BKoepka) May 4, 2019

"I gotta tell you, I enjoyed it," Chamblee continued on Thursday, referring to Koepka's round. "Outside of his immediate family, I can't think anybody who enjoyed that round more than I did."

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – The people’s champion didn’t disappoint on Thursday at the People’s Country Club.

Phil Mickelson, whose history at Bethpage Black includes runner-up finishes at the 2002 and ’09 U.S. Opens, shot a first-round 69 and was tied for ninth place, albeit six shots off the pace set by Brooks Koepka.

“It's a very fair [test],” Mickelson said of Bethpage. “I feel like I can make some pars out of the rough. I feel like I don't have to be too perfect, but I feel like I can salvage a couple of pars with just a few bad tee shots, and if I keep it in check, I should be able to shoot an under-par round.”

Things didn’t start out that way for Mickelson after bogeys at Nos. 7 and 8 moved him to 2 over for round, but a tip from his caddie, brother Tim, helped turn things around.

“I just wasn't putting well the first eight holes, and Tim noticed that I was kind up and out of it a little bit, so I made a slight adjustment, and I made four really good putts on 9, 10, 11 and 12,” Mickelson said.

Mickelson rolled in 56 feet of putts on Nos. 9-12 and closed his round with six consecutive pars to find himself in the top 10 after Round 1 at a Bethpage major for the third time.

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Playing to a par-70 this week and stretched to more than 7,400 yards Thursday, the Black Course at Bethpage State Park was in many ways the winner of the opening round of the PGA Championship.

While Brooks Koepka’s bogey-free 63 showed the riddle could be solved, there were far more bogeys than birdies on a day when only 16 players broke par. It produced the type of scoring average fans have grown accustomed to seeing in a major championship, but in the eyes of Bryson DeChambeau it also represented a troubling trend.

DeChambeau opened with a 2-over 72, carding just two birdies, and he now trails Koepka by nine shots. Speaking to GolfChannel.com, he shared his viewpoint that when it comes to major championship venues, longer does not always mean better.

“If you really want to prove who the best champion is, it’s not a long-drive contest. That’s why they have long-drive contests out here,” said DeChambeau, who actually won the long-drive contest at last year’s PGA at Bellerive. “It’s about precision. So when you start making it really tight, I get the tight part. But when you start lengthening it to the amounts that they’ve been lengthening it to, I just personally think that it’s a mess-up.”

DeChambeau is 44^th on Tour this season, averaging 301.3 yards per shot, and he shared that he followed his drives with a 4-iron approach on multiple occasions Thursday, resorting to hitting hybrid on the 489-yard 10^th hole.

DeChambeau extolled the annual setup at Augusta National, lauding its mix of long and short holes as a more comprehensive test, and pointed to 2013 U.S. Open host Merion Country Club as an example that majors can be successfully contested on layouts where length is not the primary defense.

“That tests the best ball-striker. That’s what majors are supposed to be about. It’s not supposed to be a driving contest,” he said. “You just can’t make golf courses that long with guys on the lower end of the stick driving it 275, 280, 290 and then hitting hybrids into greens.”

After entering the week as one of the three co-favorites to win this week's PGA Championship, Brooks Koepka on Thursday staked himself to the Day 1 lead at Bethpage Black and took over as the new solo favorite for sports bettors.

Koepka at 7 under is now 5/4 at the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook, followed by Dustin Johnson, 1 under, at 10/1 and Tommy Fleetwood, 3 under, at 12/1.

Koepka, Johnson and Tiger Woods entered the week at 10/1. 

Woods, who finished runner-up to Koepka at last year's PGA and is coming off his 15th major victory, has dropped to 30/1 after a first-round 72 left him nine off the pace.

The Westgate's odds down to 60/1 are listed in the tweet below.

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Brooks Koepka delivered on the biggest stage again, this time with Tiger Woods at his side.

At times overlooked even after winning three majors in the last two years, Koepka gave thousands of fans a round to remember Thursday morning at brawny Bethpage Black with a record-setting start to his title defense in the PGA Championship.

He had a 7-under 63, making him the first player in 101 years of the PGA Championship to shoot that score twice. He broke the course record at Bethpage Black and became the first player to post 63 at a major in consecutive years.

''That was one of the best rounds I've played probably as a professional,'' Koepka said. ''This golf course is brutal.''

Danny Lee was nearly as impressive and made eight birdies in the afternoon, including the final two holes. He finished with a 64 to close the gap to one shot, exceeding his own expectations.

''My mindset was honestly some kind of under-par round would be good,'' Lee said. ''I did a lot better than that today.''

That wasn't the case for Woods, who had not played Bethpage Black since his nine-hole practice round Monday, and had not played a tournament since he won the Masters.

He opened with a pair of double bogeys on the back nine and ruined a torrid start to the front nine – two birdies and a 30-foot eagle in a four-hole stretch – with a pair of three-putt bogeys. That gave him a 72, leaving him nine shots behind and ending 12 consecutive rounds at par or better in the majors dating to the U.S. Open last summer.

Make no mistake: A gallery that trudged through muddied walkways to the 10th tee in the early morning was there primarily for Woods, who created a new era of Tigermania with his stirring comeback following four back surgeries to win a 15th major.

What they saw was a major performance.

Just not from him.

So special was Koepka's round, even on a course still soft from rain earlier in the week, that only 16 players broke par. He was 10 shots better than the average score in the opening round.

Tommy Fleetwood had a 67, while the group at 68 included Pat Perez, who played a practice round with Koepka on Tuesday. Jordan Spieth overcame a double bogey on the 10th hole for a 69 and was in a group that included Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler and Jason Day.

''The course is not easy, but Brooks obviously made it look real easy,'' Perez said. ''I saw that on Tuesday when I played with him. I actually congratulated him on his win.''

But it's far from over, even before Lee made his afternoon move to cut into the lead. Fowler was bemused when asked how close he would have to be to Koepka heading into the final round Sunday.

''What makes you think he's going to be leading?'' Fowler said. ''I would say there's no lead really safe here.''

Woods is the only player to win back to back at the PGA Championship in stroke play – he did that twice – and Koepka had an ideal start in a bid to catch him. He won at Bellerive in steamy St. Louis last August by two shots over a hard-charging Woods. Koepka played in the group in front of Woods at Augusta National and finished one back.

This time they were together, along with British Open champion Francesco Molinari (72), and it was a one-man show.

It began with a 40-foot birdie putt from just off the back of the 10th green. It ended with a birdie putt from just inside 35 feet on the ninth hole for the 17th score of 63 in the PGA Championship.

''I think that was probably the highest score he could have shot today,'' Woods said.

Koepka failed to birdie the two par 5s, missing a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 13 and scrambling for par on the easier fourth hole. He also missed a 7-foot birdie putt on the 11th and an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 2. Yes, this could have been special. Then again, he also made four birdie putts of 15 feet or longer, including the long ones at the start and end of his round.

''When that putt went in on No. 10, that was kind of the momentum that set me,'' Koepka said. ''But I never once thought about the course record or anything. I was just trying to shoot the best I could. Simple as that. Just keep going and total them up at the end.''

He is the ninth player to open a major with 63, and only two of them went on to win - Jack Nicklaus at Baltusrol in the 1980 U.S. Open, and Raymond Floyd at Southern Hills in the 1982 PGA Championship.

There is a long way to go. Considering Koepka's record in the majors - three wins and a runner-up in his last seven majors – this felt shorter. Koepka came seriously close to a bogey only one time, and he made a 10-foot par on the sixth hole.

Woods managed to get under par, but only briefly.

His opening tee shot took enough bounces to barely get into the rough, and it left him no option but to hack out. The mistake was a wedge that went over the back of the green, and Woods threw his head back knowing his mistake. His fast pitch went 6 feet by and he missed to open with a double bogey. His other double bogey came on the par-3 17th when he went into the face of a bunker, blasted out longer and took three to get down from there.

A birdie-birdie start to the front nine, and a 30-foot eagle putt on the par-5 fourth, brought him to 1 under. And then he bogeyed three of the next four holes.

''I fought my way back around there, and unfortunately, I just didn't keep it together at the end,'' he said.