Oakland Hills, Michigan  - Pre-tournament favourite Phil Mickelson survived a topsy-turvy day to make a strong start to his bid for a second US PGA title, carding a level-par 70 on Thursday to be well in contention midway through the first round.

The American, PGA champion in 2005, had five bogeys but also five birdies as he finished just two shots behind the early leaders in the clubhouse, Swede Robert Karlsson and Indian Jeev Milkha Singh, who each finished with rounds of 68.

A bogey at the par-three 9th hole, his last after starting at the 10th, cost him the chance of breaking par but he was content with his score after never quite finding the consistency he wanted.

"It was certainly up and down," Mickelson admitted. "I made a bad start and was kind of hanging in there. I missed some opportunities early and ended up bogeying. But I made some birdies and I will take even par."

Only five of the early starters managed to break the par of 70 and Mickelson said the Oakland Hills course was playing extremely tough.

"It's a lot firmer and faster than any of the practice rounds," he said. "It's playing more difficult but there are some birdie holes out there. There are also some tough pars so you have to be very patient."

Another of the early starters to break par was Spaniard Sergio Garcia, the winner at the Players Championship earlier this year but still searching for his first major triumph.

Garcia had two birdies and just one bogey, showing a nice touch around the greens and holing some important putts to save par and finishing with a 1-under-par 69.

"I didn't hit the ball as well as I usually do," Garcia said. "I hit a couple of bad tee-shots because of a bit of a lack of confidence. But I made a couple of good par putts and did pretty well in the end."

Karlsson double-bogeyed the tricky opening hole but bounced back in stunning fashion with five birdies to reach the turn in 3-under- par.

Another birdie at the par-four 11th hole took him to 4-under-par, but back-to-back bogeys at 14 and 15 dropped him back to a share of the lead with Singh, whose 8 included an eagle at the par-five 2nd hole.

Englishman Lee Westwood, strongly fancied to win his first major after a near-miss at the US Open in June, had a nightmare start, with one double-bogey and five bogeys seeing him finish on 7-over-par, nine shots off the early lead and already looking like he will need a big effort on day two to make the halfway cut.

Open champion Padraig Harrington, South African Retief Goosen and Fijian Vijay Singh, the winner at the WGC last week, were among the later starters.

World No 1 Tiger Woods is not in the field as he recovers from a knee injury. (dpa)