Åberg started with a birdie, but then made three bogeys during the first nine holes. The big blow came on hole ten. After a missed drive, Åberg had to drop a ball, incur a penalty stroke, and after a three-putt, he had to note a triple bogey on the par 4 hole.
He bounced back with two birdies, but with three strokes over par (73 strokes) in total, Åberg is far down the leaderboard. He will have to fight hard on Friday to make the cut for the weekend.
It was tough, obviously a tough day. I felt a bit rusty. What was good was pretty good, but what was bad was really bad. It was a bit of everything today, but overall I'm happy to be playing golf again, says Åberg to the organizer.
Åberg underwent meniscus surgery on his left knee at the beginning of September. The plan was to play the two final tournaments on the DP World Tour, formerly the European Tour, in the United Arab Emirates earlier in November, but he chose to postpone his comeback until this week's PGA tournament.
It's a double American lead as both Maverick McNealy and Michael Thorbjornsen went around eight strokes under par.
Henrik Norlander, the tournament's second Swedish player, went one over par.
