Japan's Hideki Matsuyama carded a 1-under-par 70 on Thursday to sit three shots off the lead after the first round of the PGA Championship, the last of the men's four major golf tournaments of the season.

Matsuyama, ranked third in the world and seeking his first major title, had six birdies against five bogeys to tie for 15th place at Quail Hollow Club.

Denmark's Thorbjorn Olesen and Kevin Kisner of the United States are leading at 67, while five players, including American Brooks Koepka who won the U.S. Open in June, are a shot behind.

Matsuyama, starting on the back nine, birdied on his first two holes and picked up another birdie while bogeying twice on his way in. On his outward journey, he had three bogeys in a row from No. 3 but made up for them with consecutive birdies on his last three holes.

"I wanted to do a little better considering my first half, but after what happened in the middle of my second half I think I did a good job of coming back," Matsuyama said.

"I had a series of shots that weren't very good, but things got better after I got a nice birdie on No. 7," he said. "There were both good and bad parts to my performance, but I think I started out well."

Among other Japanese, Hideto Tanihara and Satoshi Kodaira finished even-par in 25th. Yuta Ikeda was in a share of 33rd at 1-over along with two-time champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland and American world No. 2 Jordan Spieth, who needs the PGA Championship to become the sixth player to win all four majors.