The 92nd PGA Championship teed off at Whistling Straits on Thursday after a more than three-hour fog delay.
American Bo Van Pelt was first off the tee at the 408-yard, par-four first hole after the start was delayed because of dense fog from Lake Michigan that blanketed the course.
The fog lifted allowing play to begin and temperatures are expected to continue to rise throughout the day to the low 30 Celsius range (80s Fahrenheit).
Weather forecasters say humid conditions will make it seem even hotter for the players but sunshine later in the day is expected to help dry the course.
The long term forecast is for isolated showers and thunderstorms late in the day Friday, scattered showers and storms Saturday morning and mostly sunny skies on Sunday.
Van Pelt, who birdied the first hole, was playing in a group with Scott Hebert and Vaughn Taylor.
Other early starters included South Korea's KJ Choi and 2004 runner-up at Whistling Straits Justin Leonard, who is playing in a threesome with two young guns, Rickie Fowler of the US and Japan's Ryo Ishikawa.
The morning group also features Tiger Woods, who is lined up with defending PGA Champion Yang Yong-eun and Fiji's Vijay Singh who beat Leonard in a playoff to win the last time the PGA Championship was held at this course.
"I am playing with two legendary golfers," Yang said. "The next two days will be ones I will remember for the rest of my life.
"I hope to go out there and have fun and enjoy the experience."
The 14-time major championship winner Woods heads into the event with his game in disarray after coming off the worst performance of his career at last week's Bridgestone Invitational.
The four-time PGA Championship winner is without a win this season and without a major title in the past two years.
Reigning Masters champion Phil Mickelson will try to make it a two-major season and has a chance to surpass Woods as the No. 1 ranked player with a strong showing this week.
Mickelson, who has an afternoon tee off time on the first hole, is playing with US Open winner Graeme McDowell, of Northern Ireland, and British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa.
Mickelson dropped a bombshell earlier this week when he announced he is being treated for a severe but treatable case of arthritis. He says the medication he is taking is working and that is why he is able to compete this week.
Even before the fog struck Thursday morning, the par-72, 7,507 yard course had been hit by bad weather. Thunderstorms dumped more than four centimetres of rain on the course Wednesday, forming puddles in many of the close to 1,000 bunkers and softening the fairways and greens.
Whistling Straits has been touted by organizers as a links-style course on US soil but Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy says looks can be deceiving.
"It definitely looks more like a links course than it plays." he said.
"With the rain we had the course is still very soft and you wouldn't find a links course in Ireland playing that soft.
"Aesthetically it does look very much like a links course but it just doesn't play like one."
McIlroy is in a trio with American Steve Stricker and Aussie Adam Scott and will tee off later in the day.
Copyright 2010  AFP American Edition
