Demanding test brings best out of Karlsson

90TH US PGA CHAMPIONSHIPGIVE A course bad name, and it tends to stick. An age ago, back in 1951, the legendary Ben Hogan won the US Open at Oakland Hills and remarked, "I'm glad I brought this course, this monster, to its knees."

Yesterday, as a different major examination got under way, that of the 90th US PGA championship, the course proved to be every bit as unforgiving for the vast majority of the field as it was five decades and more ago.

For much of the first round, players had to contend with difficult conditions - thick, brushed rough and firm greens - although the later starters were given a respite when a thunderstorm rolled in over Detroit, forcing a suspension of play at 5.33pm local time (10.33pm Irish time) at which stage half of the field had finished, with Robert Karlsson and Jeev Milka Singh sharing the clubhouse lead on 68, two under par.

Pádraig Harrington and Darren Clarke were among those called in, as the rain clouds gathered overhead. Harrington, who had started like a train with three successive birdies, had fallen back to even par after 14 holes, while Clarke was two over par through 15 holes.

For much of the day, the course had tormented players. As Lee Westwood, not a player who would normally be classified as a moaner or whinger, and left battered and bruised by an opening round of 77, complained of rough adjacent to the fairways that had been brushed back to stiffen the test: "It's horrendous . . . it hurts the guys that miss the fairway by two yards. It doesn't hurt the big bombers who miss by ten or 15 yards. It's stupid. I don't like it at all." Not everyone agreed with Westwood's sentiments. Phil Mickelson observed, "It's challenging, but that's what we face in all the majors. That's the patience factor, and one of the reasons why winning a major is always more difficult."

The difference yesterday - compared to how players had encountered the course during practice rounds - was that the greens had firmed up considerably while a decision had also been taken to brush the primary rough towards the tees, making it extremely difficult for players to move the ball forward once they found the first cut.

The upshot was a long, hard day at the office for most players; and yet, as they tend to do, others managed to find a way to, if not exactly conquer the course, at least combat it. So it was that Sweden's Karlsson - who entered the season's final major as the only player to have recorded top-10 finishes in the Masters, US Open and British Open - and India's Singh produced 68s, two under, which allowed them a share of the early clubhouse lead.

Two players - Retief Goosen (11 holes) and Jonathan Byrd (9 holes) - had joined Singh and Karlsson on two under when play was suspended.

If Singh's appearance atop a major leaderboard came as something of a surprise, nobody could have been taken aback by Karlsson's. Yesterday, as he has done seemingly all year, the 6' 4" Swede - already guaranteed a return to Ryder Cup duty for next month's match at Valhalla - started his day with a bogey (his approach overshooting the green and hitting a cart path to leave him with an impossible up-and-down) but, once he righted the ship with a birdie on the second, he produced superb golf in tough conditions.

Karlsson got his round to four-under by the 11th (where he hit a pitching wedge to 10 feet) only to suffer back-to-back bogeys on the 14th , where he was over the back of the green, and 15th, when he was twice in bunkers, heading into the toughest stretch - the final three holes - on the course. However, a run of par-par-par got him back to the clubhouse with a 68 that confirmed his pre-championship prediction that it was a course that suited him.

With a run of tied-8th at the Masters, tied-4th at the US Open and tied-7th at the British Open, Karlsson came here. "I'm comfortable playing the big events. Before, I had a bit of a problem. I tried too hard and pushed myself too much . . . so, I always made a lot of mistakes. But this year the swing is better and I definitely feel a lot calmer and more content with life in general, not just on the golf course."

While Vijay Singh came into the championship on the back of last week's Bridgestone Invitational win at Akron as one of the strong contenders, it was his namesake from India who stole some of his thunder. The 2006 Volvo Masters champion wasn't one of those inclined to moan about the course. "It's a great test of golf and patience," remarked Singh, who - continuing the bizarre streak of players with injuries playing well in majors - revealed he had been troubled by an ankle tendon injury which has led him to wear a brace for the past month.

Not that the injury seems to have affected his ability to win. Singh won the Austrian Open last month and also won a tournament in Japan where he underwent an MRI scan and was told by his doctor to take a full month's rest.

Having decided to ignore medical advice, Singh said: "I decided if I'm going to play the PGA, that I'm going to push through this week . . . but the more drivers you hit, the more (the injury) comes back."

Harrington, meanwhile, started off with three successive birdies: from four feet on the first, from three feet on the second and, then, after his approach hit the pin, from three feet on the third. However, he incurred bogeys on the seventh and ninth, where he overshot the green, and then dropped further shots on the 12th - where he took a penalty drop after pushing his drive into bushes - and the 13th before getting back to level par with a birdie on the 14th.