"You must be kidding," mutters Scottie Scheffler as he finds a spot right near the lip in the left fairway bunker on the 552-yard par-five seventh.

Surely a lay up from there. That's sensible stuff from the world number one. If only the defending champion was taking note.

Xander Schauffele feels like he has to make something happen and goes for the green from a similar spot, only to make a splash landing.

Rory McIlroy has a four iron in hand for his second after finding the fairway again. He catches it flush and just zips through to the back of the green. Can he chip in for an eagle?

Alex Smalley doesn't quite hit his birdie putt on the ninth so he just taps in for a par to complete a fine front nine, which he's navigated in a two-under 33 to sit just two shots off the lead.

Image source, Getty Images

A decent recovery from Rory McIlroy, who clips into four feet and tidies up for par, although he is yet to move the right side of the projected cut line.

Xander Schauffele drops a shot and is also falling foul of that at present. The American sees his par putt slide past on the right from 11 feet.

Luke Donald follows his double on 18 with a dropped shot on the first. He finds a fairway bunker off the tee and can't reach the green from there.

Three shots gone in two holes.

He's still one ahead of Keegan Bradley though, who bogeys the par-three fourth after missing a five-footer for par.

Gavin Andrews
BBC Sport NI at Quail Hollow

Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin is relishing his first appearance at the US PGA Championhsip. The 22-year-old followed his opening round 70 with a level par 71 today.

His golf has been very professional - fairways, greens nothing fancy just composed and cool.

He’s the leading Irish golfer with the two big names inside the world’s top 10, Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy, battling to make the cut.

Look for the chilled out kid from Holywood to keep on plotting his way around this test over the weekend - his patience could be the perfect approach at Quail Hollow.

On to the par-five 15th for Robert MacIntyre and he again plays it sensibly.

He doesn't go chasing the green in two, preferring to leave a wedge in for this third and then rolling in a 20-footer for birdie. He's only four off the lead.

Matt Fitzpatrick has climbed the major mountain before, winning the US Open in 2022, and he's putting himself in position to challenge again at Quail Hollow.

A chip from the edge of the green almost drops in for eagle on the seventh, but he is more than happy to settle for a birdie which takes him within three shots of leader Jhonattan Vegas.

Meanwhile, a tidy birdie putt from about 10 feet gets Jon Rahm into red numbers.

Not enough club. Rory McIlroy takes a five iron for the 252-yard par three but there's nowhere near enough juice on that and it rolls back off the front edge of the green down the apron.

Neither Scottie Scheffler or Xander Schauffele find the putting surface so Rory is in good company, although you sense that will only add to his frustration, which was shown by a audible groan.

A third fairway is found by Rory McIlroy at the fifth but that does not translate into a birdie but a rather welcome par as a six-foot putt just grabs the right of the cup before disappearing.

It has been solid rather than spectacular stuff thus far albeit if the Northern Irishman could come out of this at say, two under, I'm sure he'd feel right back in the tournament.

A sensible putt by Bob Mac on the 14th. He gives his eagle chance a decent go at the hole but also makes sure it doesn't go racing by.

A tap-in birdie and he's back to where he started the day.

A good response to an opening bogey by Ryan Gerard as he makes a fine birdie three on the 11th - as he's playing the back nine first today.

That should settle him down after that nervy opening.

That's two birdies in a row for Alex Smalley to get to six under and into a tie for second place. Not a bad effort for a guy who only got into the field the day before the US PGA Championship started after Sahith Theegala withdrew.

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

It's looking like the cut will be at two over unless something drastically changes with the weather.

Quail Hollow bites back. Luke Donald was indeed in the water off the tee on the 18th and the penalty drop is into rough, which means he can only nudge his ball 100 yards or so down the fairway.

His fourth shot is from 130 yards and while he's usually pinpoint with a wedge in hand, this one gets away from him and he's looking at a 45-footer for bogey. Misses. Double.

Robert MacIntyre is on the 14th tee. It was a driveable par four in round one. And, even though the flag is at the back a sinewy green, it's still driveable today.

And Bob has done just that, cutting a big right-to-lefter into the heart of the green and the ball bounds up to about 25 feet. Big eagle chance coming up.

Jon Rahm sends his birdie putt on the par-three sixth about six feet past the hole, giving him a tricky putt on the way back to save par.

The Spaniard is equal to the task, however, and remains at level par for the tournament.

One over is currently good enough to make the cut.

None of this celebrated trio get anywhere near the pin on the par-three fourth.

Both Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele benefit from solid tee shots and two putts from around 30 feet to secures another par, while Scottie Scheffler scrambles out of the sand to make his three.

"Cut!" shouts Luke Donald as his ball heads down the left of the 18th. Regular readers will know that left on 18 is a big no-no.

There's deep rough flanking either side of a stream that runs the length of the fairway and up round the green.

We don't see his ball land. But I suspect it's wet.

Alex Smalley is built like a one iron, but he can certainly golf his ball, as they say, as he birdies the seventh to get to five under par.

He was just off the green in two, but made a mess of an attempted flop shot as he never committed to the stroke so just flubbed it a few feet in front of him.

However, he made up for that with his next shot - as he chipped it in! No pictures on the scorecard Alex...

Ryo Hisatsune is scuttling up the leaderboard. Three birdies in his opening six holes catapults the 22-year-old Japanese into a share of second and two off the lead.

It could have been better too had his eagle putt on the 15th dropped. A tap-in birdie it is though.