Louis Oosthuizen is just three shots off the early lead of Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen after opening with a 70, writes WADE PRETORIUS.

Earlier Ernie Els signed for an 80 in his 100th Major

The 34-year-old arrived at Quail Hollow for the PGA Championship on the back of a missed cut at The Open and with his last top five finish coming back in May but shook off the rust during the opening round.

Oosthuizen began the day with a birdie on the first to get his week off to an ideal start. A string of pars followed before he found the fairway bunker on the fifth which resulted in a bogey. He dropped to plus one after missing the green on the par 3 sixth and after a wayward short iron into the eighth green, he gave another shot back.

The Mossel Bay star moved quickly back to even for the day after making consecutive birdies at 10 and 11. He steadied the ship with a trio of pars before making eagle on the 15th to get him to two under and within touching distance of the lead.

Then The Green Mile bit as he closed par, bogey and par to sign for a one under par 70. Joining Oosthuizen at that number are players like Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Hideki Matsuyama and Tommy Fleetwood.

Olesen remains alone out in front after he birdied the 18 from some distance to move out in front of a trio of Americans – US Open winner Brooks Koepka, recent first-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray and the big-hitting Gary Woodland.

Photo: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images