Dean Burmester leads SA charge at PGA Championship, 4 behind leader Rory McIlroy

Dean Burmester leads the South African charge after Thurday's opening round of the PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

There are 11 South Africans taking part in the year's second major.

Burmester shot an opening round of four-under 69 on Thursday, leaving him tied for 16th and four shots behind leader Rory McIlroy from Northern Ireland.

Charl Schwartzel, Shaun Norris, and Justin Harding are two shots behind Burmester after shooting one-over par 71s, leaving them in tied for 38th position.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Louis Oosthuizen, and Branden Grace are a further two behind after shooting three-over par 73s. They lied tied for 78th.

Daniel Van Tonder and Garrick Higgo shot four-over par 74s to lie tied for 99th alongside American great Tiger Woods.

Erik van Rooyen shot five-over 75 to sit tied for 114th and Olivier Bekker struggled with an eight-over 78 to close in tied for 138th position.

65 - Rory McIlroy (NIR)

66 - Tom Hoge (USA), Will Zalatoris (USA)

67 - Matt Kuchar (USA), Justin Thomas (USA), Abraham Ancer (MEX)

68 - Chris Kirk (USA), Mito Pereira (CHI), Xander Schauffele (USA), Cameron Smith (AUS), Kevin Na (USA), Davis Riley (USA), Matt Fitzpatrick (ENG), Lucas Herbert (AUS), Joaquin Niemann (CHI)

69 - Tony Finau (USA), Stewart Cink (USA), Webb Simpson (USA), Talor Gooch (USA), Patrick Reed (USA), Beau Hossler (USA), Dean Burmester (RSA), Thomas Pieters (BEL), Lee Kyung-Hoon (KOR), Aaron Wise (AUS), Patton Kizzire (USA)

70 - Shane Lowry (IRL), Francesco Molinari (ITA), Viktor Hovland (NOR), Alexander Norn (SWE), Ryan Fox (NZL), Gary Woodland (USA), Russell Henley (USA), Brendan Steele (USA), Max Homa (USA), Tyrrell Hatton (ENG), Robert MacIntyre (SCO)

71 - Justin Rose (ENG), Tommy Fleetwood