Lee Westwood stormed into a share of the PGA Championship lead with five birdies in his last six holes on Thursday as four-times winner Tiger Woods ended the opening round a distant nine shots off the pace.
Westwood, long regarded as one of the best players in the game who has yet to clinch a major title, fired a six-under-par 65 on a calm, muggy day at Valhalla Golf Club to finish tied for the lead with Americans Kevin Chappell and Ryan Palmer.
British Open champion Rory McIlroy, the pre-tournament favorite, was lurking ominously just one off the pace after opening with an eight-birdie 66 in the year's final major.