Clarke sets blistering page with 65

Britain's Darren Clarke birdied the first four holes on his way to a one-shot lead in the U.S. PGA Championship first round on Thursday 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 favourable course set-up to fire a course-record 65, seven under.

Helped by a red-hot putter, the Northern Irishman 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 on Thursday because of predicted 35kph winds, which never materialised.

"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.

South African Els, who could replace Woods at the top of the world rankings if he wins the tournament, mixed seven birdies with a bogey while Leonard finished in style, picking up five shots in the last nine holes.

"It's a good start, but there's a lot of guys that have played well today," said three-times major winner Els after a day of hazy sunshine and occasional light rain.

"All of that will filter out as the week goes along. I would like to be in the mix once again. That's all I can ask for."

Singh, who played in the day's marquee group with Woods and John Daly (81), was also appreciative of the Whistling Straits set-up.

"I think they (the organisers) kind of went a little too easy," he said. "I enjoyed playing it but I think it's going to get tougher from here in."

South Korea's K.J. Choi, who had set the early pace with five consecutive birdies, was on 68 with Americans Jay Haas, Loren Roberts, Tim Petrovic and Chris DiMarco, Ireland's Padraig Harrington, Canadian Stephen Ames and Australians Geoff Ogilvy and Stuart Appleby.

Among the bigger names, U.S. Masters champion Phil Mickelson fired a 69, British Open winner Todd Hamilton a 72 and Spaniard Sergio Garcia and Canada's Mike Weir 73s.

But Woods, under pressure to end a run of nine majors without victory, battled for consistency and accuracy and struggled on the greens.

"I didn't hit the ball all that poorly, but I sure putted bad," said the 1999 and 2000 PGA champion after ending the day in a tie for 105th.

"All of the short putts I missed. I really putted atrociously today."

Woods, who teed off at the par-four 10th, made a fast start with an opening birdie, hitting his wedge approach to four feet after an accurate drive.

Standing on the tee at the monster 618-yard par-five 11th, he was forced to abort his backswing after being disturbed by a photographer.

The eight-times major winner then pulled his drive into the left rough, from where he was unable to find the fairway with his second shot.

He pushed his third into thick fescue on a mound to the right of the fairway and, after punching out to the left of the green, three-putted for an ugly double-bogey seven.

At the par-three 12th, he struck his tee shot 25 feet to the left of the pin and again three-putted, his par attempt from six feet horse-shoeing out of the cup.

The 28-year-old American collected another bogey at the 13th but recovered with a birdie after driving the green at the par-four 14th to get back to two over.

However, the rollercoaster pattern to his round continued. Out in 38, he birdied two and four but stumbled with dropped shots on one, six and seven. He now faces a fight to avoid missing the halfway cut after finishing 10 shots off the lead.

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