A double bogey on the 18th hole forced India's Anirban Lahiri to settle for a two-under 70 and finish tied 15th after the opening round of the $10,000,000 97th Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Championship here.
World No.53 Lahiri was flawless on the front-nine holes, getting birdies on the first, fourth and seventh at the par-72 Whistling Straits course on Thursday. The current Asian Tour leader started the back-nine also with a birdie. After dropping a shot on the par-five 11th, the Bengalurean birdied the par-three 12th.
The 28-year-old again dropped a shot on the par-four 14th, he returned to a four-under score by birding the 16th. With an even effort on the par-three 17th, Lahiri was on the verge of upsetting some big names to be inside top five.
However, he took six shots to clear the 18th hole and was forced to get a 70 -- fifth best score of the day. He shared the spot with eight others in the first round of the fourth and final Major of the year.
Lahiri had missed the cut in the 2014 edition of the PGA Championship.
American Dustin Johnson was at the top after firing a 66 while Sweden's David Lingmerth finished second following a 65.
World No.8 Johnson fired birdies on the first, second, fourth, 10th and 11th against a bogey on the third. An eagle on the par-five 16th catapulted the 31-year-old to the top.
"We'll just have to see what happens. It's only the first round. We've still got a lot of golf to play," Johnson told pga.com.
"Today was pretty easy, I would have to say. But I was swinging well and I was hitting the shots where I was looking. So anytime you're doing that, it makes things a lot easier on you," he added.
"The ball was going where I was looking. I was controlling it. In this wind it's tough to do, but I did a great job of controlling the golf ball today."
Eight golfers, including Jason Day and Matt Kuchar were tied third at 68.
World No.1 Rory McIlroy, who started his title defence with a 71, shared the 24th spot with 13 others, including world No.2 Jordan Spieth of the US.
The 22-year-old American sensation has this year's Masters and US Open titles in his pocket and is looking to become only the third golfer after Ben Hogan (1953) and Tiger Woods (2000) to win three Majors in a year.
Fourteen-time Major champion and three-time PGA Championship winner Woods was tied 86th following a 75.
