Wonderful approach from Alex Smalley, who zips into five feet and then sinks a sliding left-to-right putt from five feet for birdie.

He is now perched on four under in a five-way tie for the lead.

If you're just joining us, it's been quite the round by Luke Donald in the early stages of the US PGA Championship.

A clutch par putt from nine feet on the 18th rounds off a bogey-free 67 that sees him tied for the clubhouse lead.

Not bad for a 47-year-old who told BBC golf correspondent Iain Carter that he would be happy to just make it through to the weekend given he expected the course would play way too long for him.

Rory McIlroy is in recovery mode again on the fifth after pulling his drive into the fairway bunker off the left. It's an attacking resposne right at the flag, but his struggles off the tee will be a big worry.

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Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele both have birdie chances around the 20 foot range but neither can convert as all three players here make par.

Jon Rahm drains a 27-foot putt for birdie on the par-four fifth and he looks like he enjoyed that.

It gets him back into the red numbers as Matt Fitzpatrick fritters a shot away - taking three on the dance floor.

Bob MacIntyre is out with the putter from just off the right edge of the 14th green.

It's an eagle try for the Scot after he narrowly avoided driving the green. And he judges the pace to almost perfection, his ball rolling up to within six inches for a kick-in birdie. He's only two back.

A scruffy finish by Ryan Fox sees the Kiwi drop a shot at his final hole.

He had a five-footer for par but raced it by but I suspect he'd have taken a 67 at the start of play.

Back to the sloppy Scottie Scheffler from earlier, as he fires his approach long over the third green, and his next still leaves him with seven feet for par.

The putter has often been his weak point, and again Scheffler can't rescue the situation with the flat stick as he drops a shot again.

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

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The world of golf moves on 24 hours later. You ride the high as long as you can but you're straight into another tournament.

Rory has achieved the greatest thing he ever could - but everyone who is looking in from the outside worlds moves on to the next tournament and expects him to be able to take that attitude and preparation into the next major.

The major season is so coinfined now there really is not much time to take off and enjoy. But that is important. There's literally always another golf tournament so just enjoy it and make the most of it.

He's still trying to get in the record books though - and trying to find the balance.

JT Poston is from North Carolina but has tended to struggle at Quail Hollow, missing three cuts in five appearances here.

But back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th holes suggest he may be ready to trend in the other direction this weekend, with perhaps a first top-30 finish in a major on the cards if he can keep this up.

He'd have taken a par from where he was off the tee, but for 29 of the 30 feet his birdie putt was running Rory McIlroy looked nailed on for birdie.

The hole came just a bit too quickly though and the ball lipped out.

Luke Donald is heading to the 18th tee on the back of the simplest of pars on the 17th. A green finder with his tee shot on the 227-yard par three hole is followed by two putts from 25 feet or so.

Europe's Ryder Cup captain hit the opening shot of the championship exactly five hours ago. Slow going out there.

Sensational from Alex Smalley,who was drafted in late on Wednesday to replace Sahith Theegala.

The 28-year-old from New York drops in an eagle on the on 533-yard par five seventh hole to push himself into a tie for sixth on the leaderboard.

The par-four 16th is playing 535 yards today. That's a couple of yards longer than the par-five seventh!

Anyway, Alex Noren finds the front edge of the green in two - some 75 feet from the hole - and while most of us would be happy with three putts from there, that's a bogey that drops the Swede out of a share of the lead.

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Jon Rahm is having one at the moment.

The two-time major winner finds sand rather than the perfectly manicured fourth green and splashes out to six feet.

But he can't drop in a sliding putt to save his par and walks off with a third bogey in four holes.

It's a regulation par for Matt Fitzpatrick who pushes his iron shot off the tee to the right of the green and then takes two shots with his flat stick.

Tommy Fleetwood had a run of three successive birdies midway through his opening nine holes to put himself right in the mix.

But since then it's been a bit of slog for the Southport man. Successive bogeys on the third and fourth holes, after dropping one on the 17th, have dropped him back to level par.

You have to drive it well around Quail Hollow - get the distance yes but also some accuracy, and while that is usually a huge strength for Rory McIlroy it's certainly not today.

The big dog isn't behaving like it usually does for McIlroy, as he sprays one into the rough on the third hole, which means he's hit just two out of 10 fairways so far today.

You won't win many majors with those kind of stats.

Jon Rahm loses ground on the third after finding the trees down the right from the tee and then dunks his approach into the left front bunker guarding the green.

The Spaniard splashes out to 30 feet and can't retrieve the situation from that.

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A nice lag putt from Rory McIlroy from 30 feet away as he makes his par, but Scottie Scheffler picks up a birdie by taking advantage of that cracking approach to roll in a simple eight footer up the hill.

The world number one is the only member of the group to now get under par, and the only one who looks like he could have control of his game right now.

Alex Noren is not going away. Another birdie for the Swede, on the long 15th, sees him rejoin Ryan Fox in the lead.