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Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele both made double bogeys on the 16th after getting mud balls despite hitting the middle of the fairway.

The world number one was not happy with the PGA of America's decision not to have preferred lies:

"It's one of those deals where it's frustrating to hit the ball in the middle of the fairway and get mud on it and have no idea where it's going to go.

"I understand it's part of the game, but there's nothing more frustrating for a player. You spend your whole life trying to learn how to control a golf ball, and due to a rules decision all of a sudden you have absolutely no control over where that golf ball goes.

"But I don't make the rules. I just have to deal with the consequences of those rules. I did a good job of battling back today and not letting a bad break like that, which cost me a couple shots, get to me. Did a good job battling after that and posting a decent score."

It has been some start by JJ Spaun. The 34-year-old American has almost missed as many cuts in the majors (three) as when he's made the weekend (four) but he is going along very nicely.

A birdie on the 10th was followed by two pars but he's now gone birdie, birdie, birdie.

And that's what happens if you don't keep your ball on the fairway.

Bryson DeChambeau goes right off the tee and can't control a looping second shot into the third that flies the green and lands among the fans at the back.

His chip back on motors on and on and when presented with a 51-foot putt for par, it's just asking way too much.

Meanwhile, a pinpoint second from Viktor Hovland nestles five feet from the pin and the Norwegian rolls in for birdie. Well played.

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Justin Rose has finished second in the last two majors, and each time he's not done too much wrong on the final day.

He shot 67 on Sunday at Royal Troon, a round that only one player could better, but sadly for him that was Xander Schauffele who shot 65 to win by two.

Rose followed that up with a brilliant Sunday run at Augusta before losing his second Masters play-off to Rory McIlroy - who made an incredible birdie to take the Green Jacket.

So, then, can Rose get one over the line here?

Well, he's got a sneaky good US PGA Championship record with recent finishes of 6-9-13-8-9 - in fact he's the only player to finish in the top 15 in each of the past five years in this event.

Third time lucky for Rose?

A bad start for Justin Thomas got worse at the third hole as he followed a double bogey with a bogey to drop to three over already.

A par at four stopped the rot but it's a worrying start for the 2017 PGA champion who won the title here at Quail Hollow.

Dustin Johnson surprisingly lead the way in this group after he birdied the par-three fourth.

Ryan Gerard can't sink that par putt so ships a second shot in as many holes.

Still he's had quite a day and made four consecutive birdies and a memorable eagle on a back-nine charge that has left him still one shot clear at the top of the leaderboard.

It's been boom or bust for Sweden's Ludvig Aberg in his five major appearances to date - three finishes inside the top 12 and two missed cuts.

His tee shot on the par-three fourth sails a long way over the green and he can't get up and down to save par.

After starting with three straight pars, it means Aberg joins playing partner Jordan Spieth on one over.

Patrick Reed's birdie putt from about 15 feet drops, though, and he's back to level par.

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US captain Keegan Bradley and Europe captain Luke Donald are both now sitting pretty under par after their opening rounds.

A perfect example for all the players hoping to play under them at the Ryder Cup in September.

Only five sitting Ryder Cup captains had previously opened with a round in the 60s at the US PGA Championship during a Ryder Cup year (all of whom happened to be American).

• 1961 - Jerry Barber, 69 (-1) at Olympia Fields
• 1985 - Lee Trevino, 66 (-5) at Cherry Hills
• 1993 - Tom Watson, 69 (-2) at Inverness Club
• 1997 - Tom Kite, 68 (-2) at Winged Foot
• 2018 - Jim Furyk, 69 (-1) at Bellerive

Only on one occasion in US PGA Championship history did both sitting Ryder Cup captains make the cut during a Ryder Cup year.

That wasn't too long ago in 2021 at Kiawah Island, both Padraig Harrington (finished tied for fourth) and Steve Stricker (tied for 44th) made it to the weekend.

Ryan Gerard thins an iron shot out of the fairway bunker on the 18th and sees it clip the front bump and scoot along the deck down about 80 yards down the fairway.

We've all been there haven't we? He'll need to get up and down from 90ish yards to save his par and current two-stroke advantage.

The 25-year old is appearing in his first US PGA Championship

Over the last 30 years (1996-2025) only three players have led or co-led at the conclusion of the first round of their PGA Championship debut:

• Graeme Storm in 2007 at Southern Hills (outright round one leader, finished tied 62nd)
• Rod Pampling, 2003 at Oak Hill (Tied first after round one, finished tied for 14th)
• Sergio Garcia, 1999 at Medinah (outright round one leader, finished second)

Bryson DeChambeau doesn't like this and is disappointed as his birdie putt on the second does not swing left as he expected.

The two-time US Open winner hit a monstrous 350-yard drive on that hole.

Ryan Gerard is going to give a shot back.. a pacey par putt from eight feet or so skirts the right edge of the cup and nips away left.

His lead is down to two shots.

Bryson DeChambeau zips his second shot into the first some 30 feet past but he's on the dance floor, just, and takes two putts to register a nice solid par to start his round.

Both his playing partners have a slightly more difficult task, with Viktor Hovland scrambling but saving his par from 11 feet and Gary Woodland splashing out of the sand down the right to inside two feet to collect his four.

Not the greatest of starts for Jordan Spieth, who is aiming to complete that career Grand Slam this week.

His approach to the par-four first found the bunker and a par putt of about 10 feet slides by.

Bryson DeChambeau whips his opening drive straight down the fairway and is joined by Viktor Hovland, who cuts the corner off and is slightly right.

Gary Woodland, the former US Open champion, who receives a warm reception having had surgery to remove a brain tumour in 2023, finds the thicker stuff near Hovland's ball.

Unlike DeChambeau, who appears to have a seven iron out for a 203-yard approach, he'll have a tough second shot.

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Where do we start! Well, it was pretty much a bad day at the office all round for Rory McIlroy, who drove the ball horribly for him, hit a few dodgy iron shots, was pretty loose with his short game and hardly made a putt.

Apart from that it was all right...

It's a lot to ask to dive right back into major contention after achieving the career Grand Slam like he did at Augusta, so maybe he just needed that bad round to bring him back down to Earth again.

He'll hope for better tomorrow - it couldn't get much worse anyway.

An ugly start for Justin Thomas who tugs his drive down the second and is forcced to chip out sideways. His third shot finishes inside 20 feet but he takes three putts from there to to register a double-bogey six.

His playing partners Collin Morikawa and Dustin Johnson are in for par.

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How tall is Scottie Scheffler? Well, this angle may be a bit deceptive, but it's a pretty good representation of where the two of them sit on the leaderboard right now..

Now then Bryson DeChambeau is expected to lead the charge when it comes to the challenge posed from the 16 players here that compete on the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series.

The 2024 US PGA Championship runner-up won the LIV Golf Korea event in his last start and of course pipped Rory McIlroy to win his second US Open title at Pinehurst last year, albeit he faded when in the final pairing with the world number two at Augusta.

The Northern Irishman also won at Quail Hollow in 2021, when DeChambeau finished ninth in remarkable circumstances.

"I thought I missed the cut and I was flying back (home). Flying through the air and halfway through I found out I was going to make the cut," he said.

"So I landed, I stayed the night at my house in Dallas and flew at 02.30 in the morning back to go get my tee time, and I finished top 10 that week."

Oliver Wilson
Former Ryder Cup player on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

On the first page of the leaderboard, there is a lot of people that will be really happy.

Scottie Scheffler is sitting on the second page, not too far back but without anywhere near his best stuff.

I think he'll be delighted with that.

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Like Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler hasn't had his best stuff out there by any means, but he's produced just enough sprkling of magic and limited the damage elsewhere to produce a respectable start to the tournament.

He's produced an eagle, that awful double bogey and cvancelled out birdies with bogeys in two different spells before finally picking up two birdies in his last three holes to sign for a two-under 69.

Considering he was way below his best that's a really good return for the world number one.