Cam Smith is the best part of 30 yards right of the 17th green. The pin’s on that side, too, so he’s not got much of a shot. He does exceptionally well to lash a vicious lob into the heart of the green, the best he could do, but it’s not enough to save his par. He can’t make the 16-foot putt coming back, and the bogey takes him out of the leading group and back to -2.

Xander Schauffele heads in the other direction, the result of dunking his tee shot at the par-three 14th into the bunker front left. And Cameron Smith is in a spot of bother on the 17th, carving his tee shot at the long par-three wide right. But for now …

-3: Jaeger (8), C Smith (7*), Cauley (7)
-2: Brennan (9), Greyserman (6), Schauffele (5*), Fox (5)

… and the leaders are now joined by Bud Cauley, who sends a 50-foot right-to-left swinger into the cup at 7 for his third birdie of the day. That was travelling. Had it not hit the hole, the 36-year-old journeyman from Florida might have been taking another couple of putts to get down. But here we are. He’s -3.

Cameron Smith has been tucked away, out of sight, mind and form on the LIV tour, for a while now. Missing the cut for six majors straight hasn’t helped matters. But he looks to have finally rediscovered the mojo that took him to the 2022 Open. He’s just added to those birdies at 10 and 13 by walking in a long putt across the par-five 16th, and he joins Stephan Jaeger and Xander Schauffele at -3.

One of the great up-and-downs from the career-slam-chasing Jordan Spieth on 13. Having sent his tee shot into deep nonsense down the left, he’s unable to reach the green, effing and jeffing as his second shot squirts almost straight right. Shortsided and behind a bunker, he whips over the flag to 15 feet, then rolls in the par saver. Scrambling is going to come at a premium this week, and there’s nobody better than the master escapologist Spieth. He’s level par.

A third birdie in four holes for Xander Schauffele. The 2024 champion now has a share of the lead, because it’s a first bogey of the day for Stephan Jaeger, at the long par-three 8th, all 245 yards of it.

-3: Jaeger (8), Schauffele (4*)
-2: Brennan (8), C Smith (6*), English (6), Cauley (6)

Rory McIlroy crashes a 352-yard drive down the middle of 12. By the looks of the graphic flashed up on the screen, that’s at least 30 yards further on than anyone else so far today. But his wedge is underhit, toppling back down a ridge running across the huge green, and his first putt isn’t all that either. In the end, after all that, he does well to tidy up for par. He remains level. Aronimink’s swales and large undulating greens are posing the world’s best players all sorts of puzzles and problems, and it’s captivating stuff. Whoever wins this week will have a short game to die for, their ball on the end of a tight leash.

Bryson DeChambeau’s travails continue apace. Having found the thick stuff with his iron off the 13th tee, he flies the green with his second, and is forced to hack out from more nonsense over the back. He can only bundle his ball to within 20 feet, and there goes another stroke. A very average start from the two-time major winner and prospective YouTube magnate: he’s +2. So much for playing it safe. Bomb and gouge, Bryson, bomb and gouge. However his playing partner Ludvig Åberg makes a fine birdie, taking advantage of a lucky break when his errant drive settled on rough trampled down by the gallery. A wedge to 12 feet and a putt later, and he’s back to level par.

These lads are spraying it around everywhere. Jon Rahm into the gallery down the left of 12. Ludvig Åberg into the trees down the right of 13. Bryson DeChambeau takes an iron for safety on 13 … and sends it into the thick rough down the right! That is absurd. You know what, this PGA is going to be a lot of fun.

Bounceback birdie for Rory McIlroy! He plays the 11th in fuss-free fashion: tee shot down the middle, wedge to three feet, putt into the centre of the cup. That’s wiped out his opening bogey, which was his first at the PGA Championship for five years. And up on 12, there’s some escapology from Ludvig Åberg, who sends his second over the back and into thick rough, down the bottom of a bank. He’s shortsided too, with the flag nearby, very little green to play with. But he whips out, ball sailing high but landing soft, rolling out to kick-in distance. That’s an outrageous par, and his wide smile tells the story. He knows that was damn good. But he’s +1 after a three-putt for bogey at 10.

Stephan Jaeger keeps on keeping on! He pours in a 25-footer on 6 to double his advantage at the top of the leaderboard.

-4: Jaeger (6)
-2: Hall (8), Brennan (6), C Smith (4*), Schauffele (2*)

No such problems – yet – for Stephan Jaeger. The 36-year-old German has made the cut on each of his previous PGA Championship appearances, though a tie for 50th is the best finish he’s managed. But he’s going very nicely this morning. Birdies at 1, 4 and 5, and he’s the first man to reach the -3 mark. Meanwhile the 2022 Open champion Cameron Smith birdies 10 and 13, while Xander Schauffele, who won this title in 2024, opens with back-to-back birdies at 10 and 11.

-3: Jaeger (5)
-2: Hall (8), Brennan (6), C Smith (4*), Schauffele (2*)

Bryson’s touch is all over the shop. He overcooks his downhill 30-foot putt from the fringe at the back of 11 … and the ball catches the slope of the green, rolling 60 feet past! So nearly off back down the fairway! That leads to an inevitable bogey. Also dropping a shot: Jon Rahm on 1. His approach disappears down a swale to the right of the green, and he can’t get his ball back up with his first chip. Rory also bogeys, the result of that errant drive and skulled wedge, and for a course supposedly there for the taking, Aronimink sure is baring its teeth.

It Can Happen To The Best Of Them dept. Rory McIlroy’s ball, having hit a tree down the right of 1, comes straight down and disappears into thick rough. He lashes at it with great force, but the ball only squirts out of the cabbage, a topper that dribbles 100 yards down the fairway. We’ve all done it, Rory on fewer occasions than most. But here he is. So much for his pre-tournament claim that “strategy off the tee is pretty non-existent”, huh. And there’s no blaming a blister on his pinky toe for that one.

It’s safe to say Bryson doesn’t have his distances dialled in yet. Having come up short with his approach into 10, he overhits his wedge into 11. Then asks his caddie: “Was that short?” Once he works out where he is, he should salvage his par with a couple of putts from the fringe at the back, but it’s an uncertain start for the two-time US Open champion.

Here comes Rory! And immediately the back-to-back Masters champion tries his best to prove the drive-it-anywhere predictions a lie, carving his opening salvo at 10 hysterically towards a tree down the right. Clack clock! His ball pings back towards the fairway but disappears into thick rough. He’s going round today with Jon Rahm and Jordan Spieth, the latter chasing a career slam of his own.

Bryson DeChambeau wastes his fine opening drive. A very average wedge into the 10th, then a severely underhit first putt, and he does well to tidy up from five feet for par. No such luck for his playing partner Ludvig Åberg, who three-putts his way to an opening bogey.

Michael Brennan is making his PGA Championship debut this week. The 24-year-old from Virginia tied for 24th at the Masters last month, and won his first title on Tour in Utah last October, and now he’s joint leader here, albeit with the usual fairly major early-Thursday caveats. He’s up there at -2 with Harry Hall, who finished in the top 20 last year at Quail Hollow. A neat start for the 28-year-old from Cornwall, with birdies at 5 and 6.

-2: Hall (6), Brennan (5)
-1: A Fitzpatrick (7), McCarthy (6*), N Hojgaard (6), McKibbin (3), Jaegar (3), C Smith (3*), Harman (3*), Cauley (2), Greyserman (1)

The course’s main defences are the many bunkers potted around the property, and the huge greens, which will take some working out. But some overnight rain has lengthened the track a wee bit. It’s a bit drizzly this morning, too, and it’s expected to stay cloudy for most of the day, with a chance of more showers and a little wind. The forecast for the rest of the week looks better, though: sunny with light winds for the most part. Should be a fun week.

Aronimink could prove a playground for the big hitters, with accuracy off the tee not a deal-breaker. There’s plenty of scope to whistle drives hither and yon: Rory McIlroy has described “strategy off the tee” as “pretty non-existent”, while Scottie Scheffler says “you can hit it pretty far offline” and still “kind of get away with it”. Good news for the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, then, though to be fair he blasts his opening tee shot, at 10, down the middle of the fairway. Gary Woodland won his US Open in similar circumstances; the popular veteran, whose win at the Houston Open a couple of months back was one of the feelgood stories of the year so far, is level par through his first two holes, 10 and 11.

Here we go, then, and let’s begin with the aforementioned “on-song Matt Alex Fitzpatrick”. He only got his PGA Tour card last month, courtesy of winning the Zurich Classic with his older brother Matt. That gave him a two-year exemption Stateside, plus secured his invite to this tournament. Since then he’s made the top ten at the Cadillac Championship and threatened to win last week at the Truist. Now he’s become the first player this week to reach the -2 mark, opening with birdies at 1 and 2. Admittedly he went out in the very first group, and he’s since dropped a stroke at 5. But he did do that, and he’s currently one of several players under par. Early days and quite a bit of golf yet to play, of course.

-1: A Fitzpatrick (5), McCarthy (5*), Hall (5), Hoge (3*), Brennan (3), Glover (2), McKibbin (1), Jaeger (1), Smith (1*), Brown (1)