Ogilvy in the mix during US PGA 1st round

Australian Geoff Ogilvy is just two shots off the lead and tied fifth midway through the opening round of the US PGA Championship.

Ogilvy, the last Australian to win a major back in 2006, fired a bogey-free four under 68 to trail surprise leader Carl Pettersson of Sweden (66) by two after the morning groups.

Pettersson holds a one shot advantage over Northern Ireland’s former world No.1 Rory McIlroy and American Gary Woodland after the pair shot 67 in reasonably benign conditions.

Ogilvy is tied with former PGA champions John Daly and Keegan Bradley plus Dutchman Joost Luiten who all posted rollercoaster 68s.

Tiger Woods opened with a credible three-under 69, good enough to be inside the top 10 of the morning players and well within striking distance of a 15th major championship.

Ogilvy began on the more difficult back nine and started his round in tremendous fashion by rolling in a 15-foot birdie putt on the 10th green.

He gained another shot on the 15th when a 30-foot bomb dropped in the cup to make the turn in two-under.

Playing perfect strategic golf the Victorian then birdied both par fives on the front side, the first could’ve easily been an eagle but his 10-foot try burned the edge.

A crisp pitch and tap in on the seventh ensured a hot start, his best in a major since a similar 68 in the 2004 PGA Championship.

Greg Chalmers fired a nice 70 after earlier being the sole leader when he strung together four straight birdies from the second through the fifth holes.

The left-hander rode a little bit of luck with two hole outs from off the green in the run of birdies, one of which was from the sand.

Jason Day (72) and John Senden (73) completed the Australian groups playing in the morning with Adam Scott three under after 14 holes alongside Aaron Baddeley who has played through 15.

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