McIlroy and Woods in contention at US PGA Championship

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Rory McIlroy made the best start of the bookie’s favourites in the US PGA Championship, firing an impressive five-under-par 67 to trail Carl Pettersson by one.

Both the Northern Irishman and the Swede produced bogey free rounds over The Ocean Course  at Kiawah Island in benign conditions.

Hot on their heels are Adam Scott, Graeme McDowell and defending champion Keegan Bradley at four-under, and world number two Tiger Woods, at three-under-par.

It was a mixed day for the British contingency, McIlroy, McDowell, Justin Rose (-3) and Ian Poulter (-2) will all be quite happy with their days work. But world number one Luke Donald (+2) and Lee Westwood (+3) may both be left ruing first round disappointments come Sunday.

Round-one also saw the race for Ryder Cup spots heat up, with Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Alex Noren, who both shot five-under-par 67s,  staking early claims for places in Jose Maria Olazabal’s team.

Dutchman Joost Luiten could also be an outside bet, after he showed good form to get to eight under after 14 holes, only to bogey the last four to card a 68.

Other Ryder Cup hopefuls including Sergio Garcia (+4), 2010 winner Martin Kayer (+7) and Paul Casey (+7) didn’t fare so well.

Selected leaderboard:

Carl Pettersson -6
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano -5
Alex Noren -5
Gary Woodland -5
Rory McIlroy -5
Aaron Baddeley -4
Adam Scott -4
Scott Piercy -4
Graeme McDowell -4
Geoff Ogilvy -4
John Daly -4
Keegan Bradley -4
Joost Luiten -4
Jamie Donaldson -3
Miguel Angel Jimenez -3
Justin Rose -3
K.J. Choi -3
Tiger Woods -3
Francesco Molinari -2
Charl Schwartzel -2
Padraig Harrington -2
Louis Oosthuizen -2
Ian Poulter -2
Dustin Johnson -1
Ernie Els Level
Paul Lawrie +1

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