Scottie Scheffler believes he made his "best start" to any tournament this year in the opening round of the PGA Championship.

The world number one holds a joint lead after the opening round, following his three-under round of 67 at Aronimink.

Scheffler, however, is in a seven-way tie for the lead, along with Martin Kaymer, Alex Smalley, Aldrich Potgieter, Stephan Jaeger, Min-Woo Lee and Ryo Hisatsune.

Scheffler has struggled with his opening rounds this season, most notably at the Masters, where a slow start saw him finish behind Rory McIlroy.

Indeed, this is the first time Scheffler has led a major after the first 18 holes in his career.

"At this moment, it's anybody's tournament," said Scheffler.

"Definitely the best start I've gotten off to this year, maybe besides American Express maybe.

"It's always important to get the ball on the fairway. I think around this golf course there's a lot of run-ups on the greens, and they put the pins on some of the high points.

"So your scores are definitely going to be lower if you hit the ball on the fairway, but it's still really, really difficult to make birdies.

"You hit some really nice iron shots in there to 10, 15 feet, and you've got putts with a ton of break on them. 

"This golf course, especially on the greens, is quite challenging."

Up to you, Scottie!

(He's in a seven-way co-lead @PGAChampionship) https://t.co/GBIlFb9zQg pic.twitter.com/u9yKceLw7d

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 15, 2026

The likes of Shane Lowry, Patrick Reed and England's Daniel Brown, who is making his overseas major debut, are all one shot off the lead.

McIlroy, meanwhile, has plenty of work to do after carding four-over 74 in his opening round.

The Northern Irishman started his round with a bogey, before four more bogeys on the back nine unravelled some of his hard work to get back into contention.

McIlroy, who hit only five fairways on Thursday, said: "I started missing fairways. I missed the fairway right on four, the fairway right on six, the fairway right on seven, fairway right on nine.

"From there, it's hard. I didn't have great angles either. Then obviously you start missing it just off the edges of these greens, it gets tricky."