Rory McIlroy’s first round at the 106th US PGA Championship witnessed a well-executed drive off tee number six, his fifteenth hole, to the adoring cheers of a young female fan. As fans around her laughed good-heartedly, he momentarily indulged them with a smile before getting back to his game. He ended the round five under par 66, four strokes less than the leading contender, Xander Schauffele, a strong start indeed.
McIlroy, who was notably without his wedding ring for the first time in seven years, remained steadfast. The world’s number two golfer demonstrated emphasis on his own previously stated ability to compartmentalise and ignore any off-course distractions—a theory that was proven correct on the day.
The competition saw him returning to a familiar environment that saw him victorious in his 2014 US PGA game, one of his four total Major championships. A sense of ease came over McIlroy, shaking hands with voluntary marshals on his way to the 10th tee. Upon reaching the tee-off zone, a large Rolex clock indicated the start time for the championship.
Once his name was mentioned, he was set to tee off with a group, alongside Dustin Johnson and Justin Rose, it was clear it was time for his game to speak for itself.
Carrying the winning momentum from his back-to-back tournament victories at the Zurich Classic (paired with Shane Lowry) and at the Wells Fargo at Quail Hollow the week prior, McIlroy wasted no time in getting up to speed with an early birdie from eight feet on the 10th hole, a par 5. He followed this with another birdie on the 13th hole.
However, his driving was marginally erroneous on the front nine, almost derailing his performance. A bogey on the 17th added to the suspense. With an unstable drive on the 18th propelling his ball into the water hazard, he regained his composure and successfully scratched out a par.
“I had a strong hunch it had landed in the water off the drive, but the marshals or ball-spotters couldn’t confirm it as they neither saw nor heard it. I conducted a quick search on the other side, though I was relatively certain it was in the water,” he expressed while noticeably confident the ball was in the hydration source.
Despite the mishap, he managed an impressive recovery from approximately 120 yards, securing a par – a needed achievement following a bogey on the 17th. This allowed him to maintain his drive heading into the subsequent half, confirming this by commented, “This helped me in sustaining the little momentum I had for the next nine.”
His return leg was even more impressive, producing four birdies on the 1st, 5th, 6th and 8th, sans any additional forfeited shots, thrusting him into serious competition. Out of these shots, McIlroy singled out the first hole birdie as the stand-out. Despite his drive making its way into the deep bluegrass rough, McIlroy turned it around with an 8-iron approach from 166 yards. Remarkably, the shot hit the flagstick and lay to rest merely six feet away, keeping his potential bogey to par and, more importantly, ensuring a three-shot gap.
Praising the fortuitous birdie, McIlroy stated, ‘‘It was a big game-changer. The ball on the first could have gone amiss when it hit the flagstick. A possible outcome was a one-over par after 10, but I emerged with a two-under par. This implies a three-shot swing – a significant turn around.”
One memorable sequence included a trifecta of birdies on his return leg, ignited by a spectacular chip-in from off the sixth green. The shot seemed destined for the bunker, causing both McIlroy and his caddie, Harry Diamond, to ponder its fate.
Is it in the bunker, he mused? His caddie thought so.
Ironically, it wasn’t. Capitalising on this lucky break, he successfully chipped in, climaxed by consecutive birdies on the 7th and 8th.
In retrospect, McIlroy believed he had maximised his game that day, given the circumstances. He ended on a positive note, expressing his satisfaction with his score, if not entirely thrilled about his performance.
McIlroy, fresh off his success at Quail Hollow, pointed out the contrast in the greens at Valhalla as a contributing factor to the low scores. He noticed that the greens here are considerably softer, particularly in comparison to Quail Hollow where they were notably harder. This causes the second shots and even the chip shots to be less challenging, provided one misses the green.
In his opinion, the landscape of the game this week has dramatically shifted from last week at Charlotte. It seems less challenging currently, particularly around the greens. Notably, McIlroy was among those who seized this opportunity to excel. He was deep in the action.