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

We talked about keeping yourselves in the tournament and I feel like that's just a little too far back. That's slipped Rory McIlroy back further than he would want to be.

He'll be very disappointed. Certainly that cloud he's been floating on will not feel the same for him.

Justin Thomas scrambles a par from a greenside bunker on the first while playing partners Dustin Johnson and Collin Morikawa hole tiddlers for par after finding the green with their second shots.

Outrageous. Ryan Gerard is off the left edge off the green with a tricky looking chip back down the slope to the pin...this is shifting but it's straight into the heart of the cup for an eagle.

He is six under through six holes on the back nine and three shots clear of the field.

Oh dear... The par putt from 10 feet is never online from the moment it leaves Rory McIlroy's blade, and as it curls away from the hole that's a closing bogey and a hugely disappointing three over for the day.

Stephan Jaeger finds the water off the tee on the par-four 18th and that leads to a bogey finish for the German which leaves him jointly in the clubhouse lead, but one behind our on-course leader.

Playing partner Bob MacIntyre scrambles well from the rough down the right of the fairway to find the green and two putt for a par finish.

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He's left it to the final hole of the day, but Scottie Scheffler has produced a sparkling iron shot that he's made his name on the last few years.

The world number one has crunched an iron from 215 yards and almost holed! It settles just a couple of feet from the hole for what will be a tap-in birdie to finish.

Rory McIlroy, meanwhile, was miles off line again of the tee and could only chip back out into the fairway and then pitch it from 70 yards away to abnout 10 feet.

Jordan Spieth is making a ninth attempt to claim the fourth and final leg of a Grand Slam, since claiming his third major at the 2017 Open at Royal Birkdale.

Before last week's Truist Championship he had recorded four straight top-20 finishes and closed with a bogey-free 62 in the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, his lowest round for four years.

Could this be the year the 31-year-old finally returns to the winner's circle at a major?

There are narratives around every corner at the US PGA Championship, and yet one golfer is going under the radar - but his plotline could be the biggest of them all.

It is 10 years since Jordan Spieth's incredible breakout season on the PGA Tour, where he won the Masters, the US Open and went close at both the Open Championship and the US PGA.

In 2017 he added the Claret Jug, to secure an annual shot at the career Grand Slam.

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However, eight attempts later - and none particularly close - the 31-year-old arrives at this latest effort as a side story but perhaps ready to write headlines of his own. Three top 10s in 2025 suggests he is on the climb.

"Jordan is like a bomb waiting to go off," says his celebrated University of Texas coach John Fields. "The fuse is lit and if he wins again, he may not stop."

Read more

Not to be for Rory McIlroy, with a pretty clumsy chip shot falling well short of the hole, leaving him 10 feet for the birde - and his effort is nowhere near really and he'll have to make do with a par.

That really wasn't great from McIlroy - it wasn't that tough a chip shot and it's just a loose effort from there.

Xander Schauffele does get his birdie though from a much worse position, as he found the bunker off the tee but escaped to 11 feet and rolled it in for a three.

Rasmus Hojgaard is the latest Ryder Cup hopeful to threaten the top of the leaderboard.

The Dane almost drives the green on the 342-yard par-four eighth - his 17th - and that leaves a simple chip and putt for a birdie that moves him one off the lead.

Luke Donald has been among the top 10 on the leaderboard at the conclusion of a major championship round 24 times in his career.

However, the last time it happened was a decade ago at the Open at St Andrews when he was 10th after the second round and finished the championship in a share of 12th place.

The marquee groups are heading out in the late wave and Justin Thomas rips his opening drive down the middle of the fairway. Thomas is a two-time winner of this championship, including right here at Quail Hollow in 2017.

Two-time major winner Dustin Johnson finds the right side of the fairway, while 2020 US PGA champion Collin Morikawa follows him and finishes a couple of yards further down.

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Now if you've been watching anything of Justin Thomas on the practice greens this week you'll have seen him with tees in the green at five, 10 and 15 feet and a stick just behind the hole.

The goal is to knock in the putts and if you miss go no further than the bit of wood just beyond the cup.

The two-time US PGA champion's putting has been an Achilles heel in recent times but this year he has turned back the clock.

He won five PGA Tour events plus the US PGA in 2017 and so far in 11 events on the main tour in North America in 2025 he has racked up six top-10 finishes, three second-place finishes and a victory at the RBC Heritage.

He’s also currently ranked 20th in strokes gained with the putter (on the PGA Tour) this year, his best performance in the category since the 2016-2017 season (43rd) and the 2017-2018 season (47th).

Last season Thomas had plummeted all the way down to 174th in strokes gained on the green.

Jon Rahm plays a lovely approach into the ninth, with a high towering fade that gives him a look at birdie from 20 feet. The Spaniard's knees are going as his ball looks destined to drop before slipping left at the last moment.

Matt Fitzpatrick is on the putting surface in two but will also settle for a par after leaving his birdie putt a couple of feet short.

A good opening round that for the Englishman, who is chasing a second major title.

Rory McIlroy goes full power with his driver trying to whack it 342 yards up the hill to the eighth green. It's a tremendous effort that almost creeps up the big false front to the green, but he's in a nice spot to try and get a birdie from there.

A round that promised so much sort of fizzled out for Tommy Fleetwood but an under par start to a major is not to be sniffed at.

Three birdies in three holes, followed by three bogeys in five around the turn, left the Englishman back at level par.

But a birdie on the seventh got him back into the red and he finished par-par.

It's all gone downhill for Rory McIlroy after that superb drive, as he makes a bit of a hash of his chip out of the rough, so he then has to get up and down just for a par.

That's as good as a dropped shot for McIlroy who usually gobbles up the par fives at Quail Hollow - and especially after that drive he'll be bitterly disappointed not to pick up a shot.

Ryan Gerard is absolutely flying here.

The 25-year-old, who is making his debut at the US PGA, finished second at the Texas Open last month and is brimming with confidence as he taps in a fourth consecutive birdie after landing his iron into two feet on the 205-yard par-three 13th.

Jon Rahm and Matt Fitzpatrick both make birdies on the eighth after zipping into 10 feet and five feet respectively.

And now Patrick Cantlay joins them, with his first birdie for 12 holes. It's been one of those sort of days for this trio.

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

The absolute measure of the best in the world is how good their bad is.

To turn this round into an under par round will be a fantastic feat and Scottie Scheffler would be delighted with it.