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Cape Town - Rory Sabbatini, Ernie Els and Branden Grace lead the South African charge after the first round of the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in Kohler, America.
The trio shot one under par 71s on Thursday, trailing leader Dustin Johnson by five shots.
Louis Oosthuizen, who came oh-so-close at the Open Championship a few weeks ago before losing in a playoff, is one shot behind his compatriots after shooting a level par 72.
Charl Schwartzel, the 2011 Masters champion, shot a one over par 73, while the other South Africans in the field were further back, with George Coetzee shooting 74, Tim Clark 75 and Johan Kok 77.
American Johnson was on song throughout. He managed a 28-foot eagle at the par-five 16th and five birdies to grab the early lead just as world No 1 and defending champion Rory McIlroy, Masters and US Open champion Jordan Spieth and Open Championship winner Zach Johnson were heading to the first tee.
With afternoon winds making scoring tough on the par-72 Whistling Straits course on the shores of Lake Michigan, Johnson's score was still atop the leaderboard at the end of the day.
First-round scores on Thursday in the 97th PGA Championship:
66 - Dustin Johnson (USA)
67 - David Lingmerth (SWE)
68 - Russell Henley (USA), Matt Kuchar (USA), Harris English (USA), J.B. Holmes (USA), Jason Day (AUS), Matt Jones (AUS), Danny Lee (NZL), Scott Piercy (USA)
69 - Brendan Steele (USA), Thomas Bjorn (DEN), Jamie Morrison (ENG), Justin Rose (ENG)
70 - Hideki Matsuyama (JPN), Charles Howell (USA), Robert Streb (USA), Paul Casey (ENG), Martin Kaymer (GER), Anirban Lahiri (IND), Emiliano Grillo (ARG), Yang Yong-Eun (KOR), Marcel Siem (GER)
71 - Rory Sabbatini (RSA), Brian Gaffney (USA), Brandt Snedeker (USA), Ernie Els (RSA), Tony Finau (USA), Branden Grace (RSA), Francesco Molinari (ITA), George McNeill (USA), Steve Stricker (USA), Webb Simpson (USA), Rory McIlroy (NIR), Jordan Spieth (USA), Bae Sang-Moon (KOR), Jason Dufner (USA), John Senden (AUS)
72 - Sergio Garcia (ESP), Louis Oosthuizen (RSA), Bubba Watson (USA), Hunter Mahan (USA), Lee Westwood (ENG), Mikko Ilonen (FIN), Morgan Hoffmann (USA), Marc Warren (SCO), Brendon de Jonge (ZIM), Justin Thomas (USA), Soren Kjeldsen (DEN), Bernd Weisberger (AUT), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA), Luke Donald (ENG), Phil Mickelson (USA), Billy Horschel (USA)
73 - Chesson Hadley (USA), David Howell (ENG), John Daly (USA), Charl Schwartzel (RSA), Bill Haas (USA), Ryan Moore (USA), Vijay Singh (FIJ), Jim Furyk (USA), Rickie Fowler (USA), Tyrrell Hatton (ENG), Kevin Chappell (USA), Rafa Cabrera-Bello (ESP), Graeme McDowell (NIR), Brooks Koepka (USA), Kevin Streelman (USA)
74 - Pat Perez (USA), Thongchai Jaidee (THA), Geoff Ogilvy (AUS), Matt Every (USA), Adam Rainaud (USA), George Coetzee (RSA), Shaun Micheel (USA), Steven Bowditch (AUS), Daniel Berger (USA), Shawn Stefani (USA), Cameron Smith (AUS), Troy Merritt (USA), Kevin Na (USA), Danny Willett (ENG), Jason Bohn (USA)
75 - Boo Weekley (USA), An Byeong-Hun (KOR), Ryan Palmer (USA), James Hahn (USA), Tiger Woods (USA), J.J. Henry (USA), Bob Sowards (USA), Brett Jones (AUS), Sean O'Hair (USA), Jimmy Walker (USA), Ian Poulter (ENG), Camilo Villegas (COL), Patrick Reed (USA), Zach Johnson (USA), Tim Clark (RSA), Kevin Kisner (USA)
76 - Ryan Helminen (USA), David Hearn (CAN), Matt Dobyns (USA), Victor Dubuisson (FRA), Stephen Gallacher (SCO), Ross Fisher (ENG), Keegan Bradley (USA), Carl Pettersson (SWE), Brent Snyder (USA), Brendon Todd (USA), Martin Laird (SCO), Alex Cejka (GER), Charles Frost (USA), Chris Wood (ENG), Ben Martin (USA), Rich Beem (USA), Adam Scott (AUS), Henrik Stenson (SWE), Padraig Harrington (IRL), Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP), Ben Polland (USA)
77 - Grant Sturgeon (USA), Johan Kok (RSA), David Toms (USA), Steven Young (SCO), Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Hiroshi Iwata (JPN), Alexander Levy (FRA), Russell Knox (SCO), Omar Uresti (USA)
78 - Colin Montgomerie (SCO), Brian Harman (USA), Darren Clarke (NIR), Shane Lowry (IRL), Nick Watney (USA), Cameron Tringale (USA), Eddie Pepperell (ENG), Andy Sullivan (ENG)
79 - Charley Hoffman (USA), Jamie Donaldson (WAL), Jeff Olson (USA), Fabian Gomez (ARG), Koumei Oda (JPN), Ryan Kennedy (USA), Davis Love (USA), Pablo Larrazabal (ESP), Sean Dougherty (USA), Marc Leishman (AUS)
80 - Joost Luiten (NED)
81 - Richie Ramsay (SCO)
82 - Austin Peters (USA)
83 - Brian Cairns (USA)
84 - Mark Brooks (USA)
87 - Alan Morin (USA)
89 - Dan Venezio (USA)
