PGA Championship action got underway on Thursday afternoon at Bethpage.
Brooks Koepka is hoping to defend his title, however, he will have to fend off Tiger Woods.
Woods is chasing back-to-back majors after his sensational Masters victory last month.
The American is eyeing his 16th of his illustrious career – though his first round of this tournament did not go as planned.
Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson also went into the PGA Championship among the favourites to secure glory.
A lot has been made of Woods eyeing consecutive majors, with golf icon Nick Faldo claiming he has no chance of winning due to the difficulty of the course.
He said: “He is not going to win. No, no, no. Bethpage will beat Tiger this week. The beast will beat the Tiger.
“You have to be straight and narrow. You’ve just got to hit the fairways. It’s a brute.
“Will he win more Majors? He really needs to be fit in April [for the US Masters] for the next five years. I can’t see how he can survive the rough here.”
Woods himself is aware of how difficult it will be to win at Bethpage – and revealed his surprise at how tough the course is.
“When we first came up here last week to take a look at the golf course, my first thought was: ‘Holy cow! You are going to have to drive your ball great here,” he said.
“It’s important not only to drive it long but you have to drive it straight.
“Balls that are hit into the rough, you can’t advance to the greens because the majority of these are elevated.”
McIlroy praised Woods ahead of Thursday’s opening round, hailing the American for his return to the top.
He said: “Anything Woods does is a success when you think about how far he has had to come to get to this point.
“Anything post these back surgeries is a bonus.
“I still don’t think people understand what he did in April and coming back and with everything that he’s been through. It’s unbelievable.”
Woods teed off for his first round at 8:24am (1:24pm UK time) at Bethpage.
His second round will start on Friday at 1:49pm (6.49pm UK time).