Darren Clarke birdied the first four holes on his way to a one-shot lead in the US PGA Championship first round yesterday while Tiger Woods struggled to a three-over-par 75.
Clarke, who had described the 7,514-yard Whistling Straits layout as "brutally difficult," took advantage of surprisingly calm conditions and a favorable course set-up to fire a course-record 65, seven under.
Helped by a red-hot putter, he reeled off nine birdies in all, plus bogeys on nine and 13, to forge clear of the chasing pack.
"I didn't expect to play this well but I was very pleased to get off to such a good start," said Clarke, who missed the cut in five of his previous six U.S. PGA Championships.
"We had the better conditions this morning. The wind was blowing a little bit, but not that hard. The greens were soft and we were able to fire the ball at the flags," he told reporters.
The par-72 Straits Course is the longest venue in major championship history but three of its tees were pushed forward because of predicted 35kph winds, which never materialized.
"Some of the pin positions were, I would not say generous, but reasonable to get at," added Clarke. "There were birdie opportunities out there and, fortunately, I made the most of them."
World number two Ernie Els and American Justin Leonard, who won the 1997 British Open, carded matching 66s. Fiji's Vijay Singh, the 1998 U.S. PGA champion, Briton Luke Donald and Americans Scott Verplank and Briny Baird opened with 67s.