Medinah: Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson’s rare pairing was living up to the hype in the first round of the PGA Championship.

After stumbling with a bogey on the first hole, Woods rebounded with birdies on three of his next five to pull even with Mickelson, who opened with back-to-back birdies. The two were at 2-under through nine holes, two strokes off the lead.

Lucas Glover got off to a good start in his bid to secure a spot on the US Ryder Cup team, joining Billy Andrade at the top of the early leaderboard at 4-under.

England’s Lee Westwood, who teed off about the same time as the funeral for the wife of close friend Darren Clarke was starting, was one stroke back at 3-under.

Many of the tight-knit Europeans had considered withdrawing after Heather Clarke’s death on Sunday, but Clarke urged them to play.

Westwood started strong with a birdie, then closed his first nine with birdies on the last three holes. But he fell a stroke back with a bogey on the par-4 No. 1, his 10th hole.

Robert Allenby, local favourite Luke Donald and Brett Wetterich, who also is in the running for the Ryder Cup, also were 3 under.

Woods and Mickelson are the top players in the world these days, with 14 majors between them and five of the last seven.

But they rarely play together — only 15 times overall. This was only the fourth time at a major, and the first since the final round of the 2001 Masters, which Woods won.

So even though they started on the par-5 10th hole, the farthest corner of a 7,561-yard course that’s the longest in majors history, it was no surprise that several hundred people were waiting on a cool, partly cloudy morning.

And they gave the fans exactly what they wanted — though it took Woods a few holes.

While Mickelson’s drive landed on the right edge of the first fairway, Woods found rough so deep on the left the marshals needed help from spectators to locate it.

He got back in the fairway with his second shot, but it was still well short of the hole. He flew the green with his third shot and flipped his club at his bag in disgust.

He then ran his chip shot past the hole and down a hill, leaving him a 35-foot putt for par.

It stopped two feet short. Bogey.

Mickelson, meanwhile, reached the green in two. His eagle putt ran about six inches past the hole, drawing groans from the crowd. He tapped in for a birdie, grinning as the crowd cheered, and followed with another birdie on the next hole.

But Woods recovered quickly. After a birdie on No. 12, he picked up another stroke on the longest hole on the course, the 605-yard, par-5 14th. Another birdie on 15, and he and Mickelson were even again.

A half-hour before the tournament began, U.S. Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman led a brief memorial service for Heather, who died at age 39 after a long battle with cancer.

Among those at the service was Thomas Bjorn, one of Clarke’s best friends, who teed off an hour later.

Also attending were Colin Montgomerie and David Howell, who had afternoon starts, Robert Allenby, Jose Maria Olazabal and Lucas Glover.