Scottie Scheffler has been knocking on the door all season, and now he's finally kicked it wide open. After three consecutive runner-up finishes, the world No. 1 is hoping that a blistering start at the PGA Championship will be the key to unlocking his first major title of the year.

Scheffler carded a three-under-par 67 on Thursday at the challenging Aronimink course, grabbing a share of the first-round lead in a tightly packed logjam at the top. For a player who has been plagued by slow starts in recent tournaments, this was a welcome change of pace.

"Definitely the best start I've gotten off to this year," Scheffler said, though he conceded his opening 63 at The American Express back in January might rival it. "I felt like, especially going into the weekend when you look at like the Masters and Hilton Head and Cadillac, finishing second was probably not all that bad from where I was starting the weekend. Definitely nice to get off to a better start this week."

Indeed, Scheffler's recent near-misses have been defined by sluggish opening rounds. At Hilton Head and Doral, he fired his worst scores on day one. At the Masters, he started with rounds of 70 and 74 before a bogey-free weekend left him just one stroke behind winner Rory McIlroy. Now, with a strong start in the books, he's hoping to finally turn those bridesmaid finishes into a victory.

Scheffler's round was a masterclass in precision, as he missed only one of 14 fairways on Thursday. This marks the first time he has held an 18-hole lead in a major championship, and he knows the work is far from over. "It's a really tight leaderboard," he noted. "At this moment it's anybody's tournament."

The defending champion will have an early start on Friday, teeing off at 8:40 a.m., while most of his co-leaders will have afternoon starts. But Scheffler isn't taking anything for granted on a course that demands patience and skill. "There are a lot of run-ups on the greens and they put the pins on some of the high points. So your scores are definitely going to be lower if you hit the ball on the fairway, but it's still really difficult to make birdies," he explained.

Even his lone blemish of the day—a three-putt bogey on the 14th hole after missing a four-footer—came with a lesson. "There's a ton of slope on the greens. That putt in particular on 14, it was like the pin was on the very highest point of the green," Scheffler said with a laugh.

For golf fans and players alike, Scheffler's early surge is a reminder that consistency and a hot start can change everything. Whether he can carry this momentum through the weekend remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: the logjam at the top just got a lot more interesting.