Rory McIlroy gets off to the perfect start as he digs out a pitch-and-run from the left rough and then rolls in his putt from 10 feet for an opening four.

Scottie Scheffler can't follow him in though from a couple of feet closer, but Xander Schauffele gets his four after knocking his chip pretty much stone dead.

A reminder this group teed off from the 10th hole, which is a par five at Quail Hollow.

Ireland's Seamus Power is back to level par with an eagle two on the 311-yard par-four 14th.

And that means he's had a 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 in his opening five holes. A birdie on the 10th, followed by a double-bogey six on the 11th, a bogey on the 12th and a par on the 13th. A real mixed bag of a start.

Pretty ordinary efforts from Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler in their approaches, Scheffler miles back in the bunker and McIlroy in the rough.

Xander Schauffele by far the best as he lands just short of the green.

Funny how Schauffele, the defending champion and double major winner last year is flying under the radar somewhat this week. He won TWO majors last year!

Sunshine in Charlottepublished at 13:34 British Summer Time 15 May

13:34 BST 15 May

Gavin Andrews
BBC Sport NI at Quail Hollow

Look out for some tricky conditions in this morning’s session. It’s a sunny start with no rain in the forecast but five inches have fallen on this course over the last two weeks!

The fairways are saturated but draining fast. That means, certainly this morning ,very little run on shots from the tee and possible ‘mud balls’.

That could play into the hands of the really big hitters.

No issues on the greens - they are rapid. They use a sub air system underground to dry them out, so fast greens and soft fairways - it will will be challenging.

Nial Foster
BBC Sport NI at Quail Hollow

The Charlotte skies dumped buckets of rain early this week, turning Quail Hollow into a soggy playground for Rory McIlroy.

The course, softened by rain but firming up with SubAir greens, suits his power game. Conditions scream for long drives, and Rory’s grinning, ready to unleash his much-loved drives.

Locals, who’ve watched him grow up at Quail Hollow since his first PGA tour victory here in 2010 surged to the first tee with their Southern drawls hyping up every practice swing.

Let’s go!

This marquee group are the top performers in recent major championships as they lead the cumulative scoring to par over the last five years..

• -87 Scheffler
• -61 Schauffele
• -51 McIlroy

Alex Noren is playing in his 40th major this week and he's celebrating with two birdies in his opening four holes to bound up this early leaderboard.

His second is a short putt on the par-three fourth after pin-seeking tee shot on the 184-yard hole.

Ryan Fox is 80 feet or so away from the hole in one on the par-four 14th.

The putt starts out way left and comes in on the slope nicely to leave himself a four-footer for birdie, which he nails. Decent start for the Kiwi.

Rory McIlroy tees off in his first round, finding the right rough with a typically muscular smack with the big dog.

Xander Schauffele finds the fairway, as does Scottie Scheffler as this stellar group starts their day at Quail Hollow.

The two Americans chatting away as they walk off the tee box, McIlroy out in front on his own - not trying to be best mates with these two either....

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Gavin Andrews
BBC Sport NI at Quail Hollow

I've spent a bit of time this morning watching Rory McIlroy getting loose ahead of his opening round.

His last drive? 345 yards.

He's looking relaxed as he offers a little club twirl at the end, and after his winning performance at Augusta last month, he's wearing green.

A lucky omen? We'll find out soon enough

Up ahead at the 14th and New Zealand's Ryan Fox has an outside eagle chance.

It's a driveable par-four hole at just 311 yards and Fox lands his tee shot on the dance floor, with the ball dribbling into the fringe.

He birdied the 10th and 13th holes so is in a great spot to make his good start an excellent one.

It's a two-tee start at Quail Hollow so that they can get all 156 players round during daylight.

England's Matt Fitzpatrick is among those starting on the back nine and the 10th is an early birdie opportunity given it's a par five.

And Fitzy takes advantage, rolling in a 25-footer to get straight into the red.

This week at Quail Hollow, concessions are free, which means there is no scrambling about for loose change or digging your card out of your wallet or purse.

That's because every ticket purchased for this week’s major is a Championship+ ticket, which means all food and non-alcoholic beverages are included.

So grilled chicken sandwiches, plant-based burgers, Italian sausage, crisps etc.. will all be scoffed down by the barrel load with free water bottles to wash it all down.

Too good to be true eh? Well not really given that a ticket for a Wednesday practice round (after taxes and fees) cost $130 and jumped to $253 on Thursday and it shifts up again to $301 (£226) for Sunday.

Think they really needed to get Xander Schauffele's Champions Dinner menu, external out there for fans as well - it included a spruced up version of a surf and turf and an upscale banana split.

Oh and if you want anything alcoholic, you are looking at around £11 for just shy of a pint of lager.

Europe Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald was given the honour of hitting the opening tee shot of the championship at 07:00 local time (12:00 BST) and the Englishman pinged it right down the middle of the fairway.

He opened with three pars but has had a birdie-two on the par-three fourth to take an early share of the lead at Quail Hollow.

A year on from being arrested and warming up for his second round by stretching in a jail cell, Scottie Scheffler heads the list of bookmakers' favourites along with Rory McIlroy.

The 28-year-old American has found some recent form after his start to this season was delayed by a hand injury suffered while preparing Christmas dinner.

Last year's Masters champion was three shots adrift of McIlroy at Augusta National in April but followed that with an emphatic victory at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson.

His 31 under par total equalled the record for the lowest 72-hole score in PGA Tour history as he romped to an eight-shot win.

He'd be a hard man to bet against but Xander Schauffele is also bidding to win his third major title as he looks to become the event's first repeat winner since Brooks Koepka in 2019.

Could this duo give Northern Ireland's McIlroy some food for thought today?

Image source, Getty Images

England's Tommy Fleetwood says that Quail Hollow is not simply a "bomber's paradise" as he aims to secure a maiden major title at the 39th time of asking.

The par-71 layout measures some 7,626 yards and is expected to play slightly longer given the torrential rain in the area that affected practise on Monday and Tuesday.

Europe's Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald labelled it a "brute", while Bryson DeChambeau, who was runner-up 12 months ago called it a "bombers paradise" not exactly great for Fleetwood who is ranked 132nd in driving distance on the PGA Tour this season with an average of 296.5 yards some 22 yards behind Rory McIlroy, who is third.

"Rory's had a lot of success here, I think Wyndham Clark won here (in 2023) and he's a long hitter but at the same time there's a lot of control required still," Fleetwood said.

"Hitting it long around here is going to be an advantage but there's still going to have to be some kind strategy with the greens being firm, the rough being thicker.

"I'm sure there's winners over the years that haven't been bombers and it's a major championship so all aspects of your game need to be working if you want to win."

Fleetwood's best result in the US PGA is a tie for fifth at Southern Hills in 2022, when he finished two shots outside the play-off won by Justin Thomas.

Image source, Getty Images

Rory McIlroy is on pretty much everyone's mind at the US PGA Championship.

The world number two would have been coming in to this week as one of the favourites in any normal year, but given he finally won the Masters to complete the career Grand Slam last month, the hype is justifiably in overdrive.

Add to that his victories at Pebble Beach in February, the PGA Tour's flagship Players Championship in March and the fact he has won four times at this Quail Hollow course and it is easy to understand why.

Jordan Spieth has been inspired; Justin Thomas is jealous; Bryson DeChambeau is itching for a rematch.

World number one Scottie Scheffler would trade his own driving ability for McIlroy's at the North Carolina venue, while Jon Rahm wants his putting prowess.

Read more

Here's where the flags are for today's opening round.

Image source, PGA of America

Image source, Getty Images

In 2024, the total purse for the US PGA Championship was $18.5m and the winner Xander Schauffele took home a top prize of $3.33m (£2.5m).

However, there is more than just a hefty cheque on offer here.

The victorious golfer also gains five-year exemptions into the other three major tournaments and gets to keep the Wanamaker Trophy for a year, before receiving a replica.

Similar to the other three major tournaments, the winner of the PGA Championship typically receives 100 Official World Golf Ranking points.

They also collect 750 FedExCup points, which all but guarantees a top-50 finish in the standings of a competition that has a $100m prize pool.