He struggled with most parts of his game at Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia (par 70), finishing with 72 strokes.
"I didn't drive the ball well, I didn't hit the irons that well, I didn't hit the putts well. A little bit of everything," said the 26-year-old.
Aside from his 21st place in the US Masters - the first major of the year - Åberg has shown consistent form in recent months with five top-eight finishes.
“Frustrating”
During the first round of the PGA Championship, he displayed an equally stable game for much of the round.
Åberg started his round on hole 10. He started with a costly bogey after a three-putt from just over eight meters, but with two birdies and the rest pars, the Swede was one stroke under par with six holes left to play and was in contention in the second major of the season.
Then Åberg lost ground when he made two straight bogeys on his 13th and 14th holes of the day.
After an unsuccessful tee shot on the penultimate hole - par 3 - another bogey came and he finally had to record a 72 (two over par) on his scorecard.
Of course it's frustrating and a little boring, but we'll have to work on it and come out a little sharper tomorrow, said Åberg.
17 pars for Norén
Alex Norén's day looked completely different. Norén carded one bogey and a whopping 17 pars for a total of +1.
Major debutant Mikael Lindberg - the third Swede in the competition - also finished one stroke over par and shares the lead with Norén. Lindberg earned a spot in the PGA Championship after a victory on the DP World Tour in Turkey recently.
The competition is ongoing.
Leading the way in the clubhouse are Aldrich Potgieter (South Africa), Stephan Jäger (Germany), Ryo Hisatsune (Japan) and Min Woo Lee (Australia) at -3.
