One shot short of equalling the course record at Port Royal Golf Course, Martin Kaymer will take a two-shot lead into today's second round of the PGA Grand Slam of Golf.

The US Open champion is no stranger to wire-to-wire wins, and the fast start that he made during his six-under par 65 yesterday was reminiscent of his dominant win at Pinehurst No 2 in June.

Bubba Watson is four under after a solid, if unspectacular, 67, with Rory McIlroy at two under and Jim Furyk, one over, rounding out the field.

It is Kaymer's tournament to lose, however, and the only blemish on his day was a momentary lapse in concentration at the par-three 13th, where he three-putted for bogey.

That aside, the European Tour player always looked in control from the moment his 18-foot putt on the opening hole dropped for the first of his five birdies.

An up-and-down from the greenside bunker at the 2nd put him two under, but it was a combination birdie-eagle at 6 and 7 that really separated him from the field.

His 120-yard approach to the elevated 6th green rolled to within two inches of the cup and a supreme eight-iron from 182 yards at 7 left him a putt for eagle from six feet, which he duly made.

“Once I hit it [at 6], it felt really good,” Kaymer said. “I just didn't think it was long enough. And it wasn't. It was two inches short. It was nice to back it up with an eagle.”

Kaymer has made a point of emphasising how important the wind will be this week, and he took full advantage of the benign conditions on the largely sheltered front nine.

The eagle put him at five-under, two shots ahead of the field, and at that stage Rory McIlroy was his closest challenger.

“The first six, seven holes, they're important that you take advantage of them, that you make at least two or three birdies,” the German said.

McIlroy was three under through seven, despite a less than convincing performance. His challenge faded soon after, however, with back-to-back bogeys at 8 and 9, and at four shots back, he will need some help from the others today if he is to add this to his burgeoning list of titles.

Birdies at 13 and 17 at least gave him a glimmer of hope and it might have been better if his eagle putt from six feet at 17 had dropped. It largely summed up his day on the greens that a putt he thought would break, never left its line.

“I wasn't 100 per cent on, that's for sure,” McIlroy said. “I started pretty well and then the two bogeys on 8 and 9 sort of took the wind out of my sails a little bit. I just found it hard to get going after that.”

Watson, meanwhile, has been in this position before, he was two shots behind Padraig Harrington going into the final round in 2012, but a 71 on the final day ended any hopes he had of winning.Like Kaymer, he had a solitary bogey on his card when his tee-shot ended up in the bunker at 16 and he failed to get up and down.

Of the four, Jim Furyk is the only one to have won this event, the last time being at Mid Ocean Club in 2008. Then he beat Harrington in a play-off, but yesterday's round in contrast left him scratching his head in frustration.

Bogeys on two of the final three holes mean he is seven shots adrift of Kaymer and came during a round when he said he thought he played “a lot better than the score”.

Furyk said: “The two bogeys at the finish made it look a little worse than it was. I got absolutely zero out of the round.”

Television: Today: Ch 50 (5pm, same-day tape).