Impressive Fowler leads at Bellerive as Woods recovers from poor start

Tiger Woods recovered from a poor start to the US PGA Championship as Rickie Fowler set the initial pace in the final major of 2018.

Rickie Fowler stormed into the lead early in round one of the US PGA Championship as Tiger Woods recovered from a poor start at Bellerive.

A brilliant five-under-par 65 meant Fowler, still searching for a maiden career major, was two strokes clear of an eight-way tie for second that included Ian Poulter and Jason Day.

The American, who started at the 10th hole, was one-under through nine and made four birdies on the way home to cap a brilliant opening round.

Woods initially struggled off the tee and made a bogey, double-bogey start. The 14-time major champion had recovered to two over through nine and two further gains saw him sign for a level par after his opening 18 holes.

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Defending champion Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy, who completed the marquee group playing with Woods, posted scores of one-under and level-par, respectively.

World number one Dustin Johnson, U.S. Open victor Brooks Koepka and Open Championship winner Francesco Molinari were all level par early in their rounds, while Masters champion Patrick Reed was at one over.

The likes of Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm and Justin Rose are among the late tee-offs. Louis Oosthuizen withdrew shortly before he was due to tee-off and replaced in the field by Kelly Kraft.