Dustin Johnson sets the pace at Whistling Straits

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. – Rory McIlroy was nervous about his game. Jordan Spieth was frustrated with his putting.

Not so surprising about the opening round of the PGA Championship on Thursday was Dustin Johnson.

He was leading.

Shaking off a double dose of disappointment in the majors, Johnson breezed his way to a 6-under 66 in moderate morning conditions at Whistling Straits and wound up with a one-shot lead over David Lingmerth of Sweden. It was the fifth time in 13 rounds at the majors this year that Johnson had at least a share of the lead.

Just never on Sunday, which he knows all too well.

“It’s only the first round,” Johnson said.

It was a big start for McIlroy, and a shaky one for Spieth. They were the main event in the first round of the final major. McIlroy has not played since the U.S. Open, out for 53 days because of an injury to his left ankle and mildly curious whether his game would be sharp enough to compete. Adding to the buzz was playing with Spieth, the Masters and U.S. Open champion who is closing in on McIlroy’s No. 1 ranking.

“It’s not that. It’s more just being a little bit anxious coming back and seeing how my game is going to react whenever I’m put under a little bit of pressure and have a card in my hand and have to really score,” McIlroy said. “Once I got those first couple of holes out of the way, I felt like I settled into the round really nicely.”

Three birdies on the par 5s, and one big par save with his feet in the water, carried him to a 71.

Spieth doesn’t usually go 11 holes without making a putt of any length, and frustrations were starting wear on him until he chipped in from behind the 12th green for birdie which steadied him enough to match McIlroy with a 71.

Considering they played in a strong wind and tough afternoon conditions, it was a reasonable start.

It certainly was for Johnson.

He took three putts from 12 feet on the final hole at the U.S. Open to shockingly go from a chance to win to a runner-up finish behind Spieth. He had the 36-hole lead at St. Andrews until he disappeared on the weekend. And the PGA Championship was at Whistling Straits, where five years ago Johnson famously grounded his club in a bunker and lost out on a spot in the playoff because of the two-shot penalty.

It was like none of that ever happened.

He birdied the first two holes. He hit 4-iron to 30 feet and made eagle on No. 16. He added a trio of birdies on the front nine.

“Today was pretty easy, I would have to say,” Johnson said. “But I was swinging well and I was hitting the shots where I was looking. So anytime you’re doing that, it makes things a lot easier on you. The ball was going where I was looking. I was controlling it. In this wind it’s tough to do, but I did a great job of controlling the golf ball today.”

The one par McIlroy made on the par 5s was as big as his three birdies.

He pulled his third shot on the par-5 fifth hole into the water, and a double bogey looked likely. But his ball was sitting up in the water, so McIlroy rolled up his pant leg, splashed it out to 7 feet and saved par.

“The only thing I was trying not to do was get my feet wet,” McIlroy said. “Because if the water gets through this shoe, then the tape gets wet and then that would be a little more than just sort of annoying or uncomfortable for the rest of the day. But it was fine. It was a little bit deeper on the right side, so I just rolled my right trouser leg up and it was fine. I just had to remember to hit it hard. And I was very fortunate to escape with a par there.”

Spieth was far more boring in opening with 10 pars.