PGA Championship Leaderboard 2016: Updating Results and Standings for Thursday

The 2016 PGA Championship, the last major of the 2016 season, kicked off on Thursday at the Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield Township, New Jersey.

In-form Dustin Johnson is one of the favourites among a stacked field of contenders, including defending champion Jason Day and former winner Rory McIlroy. British Open champion Henrik Stenson will hope to continue his momentum, and the likes of Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth are also among the top contenders.

Here's a live look at the leaderboard:

Defending champion and Players Championship winner Day once again finds himself among the favourites to win this year's tournament, despite a disappointing showing at the British Open.

The 28-year-old struggled tremendously in Scotland, highlighted by an awful shank in the third round, per Golf.com's Josh Berhow. He seems to have bounced back nicely from that nightmare outing, however, per ESPN.com's Jason Sobel:

Day has been grouped with Mickelson and McIlroy, undoubtedly one of the top groups to watch for casual fans, but while the latter two came out of the starting blocks rather slowly, the Australian soared.

He was flawless on the front nine, and his short game was on point, via PGA.com:

U.S. Open champion Johnson enters the tournament in the form of his life, finishing inside the top 10 of every PGA Tour event he's entered since May.

He's taken two wins in that span and could become the new world No. 1 with a win in Springfield Township, but per Sporting News (via Yahoo Sports), he's not focused on that feat:

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It won't be on my mind. I mean, I'm going to go out and try to focus on what I've got to do and playing golf. The rest of the stuff, I try not to worry about, or actually I don't worry about. I just go out and play golf and try to shoot the best score I can. You know, if at the end of the week, if I'm on top of the leaderboard and I get to No. 1, obviously that would be great and be a big accomplishment.

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His remarkable consistency so far this year is a good omen, as he's the only player to finish in the top 10 of every major this season so far, per PGA Tour Media. His best-ever finish in the PGA Championship was a share for fifth place, however, and that was back in 2010.

Spieth celebrated his 23rd birthday on Wednesday, and after last year's second-place finish, he'll be gunning to do one better in 2016. The rising star has two PGA Tour wins so far this year but hasn't been at his best in the majors, finishing outside of the top 25 in his last two.

Mike Groll/Associated Press

Stenson and Danny Willett will tee off together with Johnson, and the veteran Swede will be one to keep an eye on after he finally won his maiden major earlier this month. His final-round performance at Royal Troon indicates he's in sensational form, and with that first major win finally out of the way, there's every reason to believe he'll continue his strong play at the PGA Championship.

Among the other top contenders, Rickie Fowler was arguably the best of the early starters, making the turn at three under par. Fowler has yet to win a major, but he did finish tied for third during the 2014 PGA Championship.