McIlroy one of many stars off to slow start at PGA Championship
It was a curious start to the PGA Championship — to say the least — for Masters winner Rory McIlroy. Now, he faces an uphill climb if he wants triumph at his second straight major.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It was a curious start to the PGA Championship for Rory McIlroy and that, to be frank, is being generous.
McIlroy, the Masters champ and odds-on favourite this week at Quail Hollow Club — a place he’s dominated over his 15-year career — opened with a 3-over 74.
He is 10 shots back of the lead held by Jhonattan Vegas, who, in the second-to-last group of the day in the fading Carolinian light, made three straight birdies to close out his day, including a curling 26-footer on the par-4 9th.
Vegas, a two-time winner of the RBC Canadian Open, now leads a major for the first time after a 7-under 64 opener.
To say that the leaderboard after Thursday at Quail Hollow is unexpected would be an understatement. Vegas, who has missed four of his last five cuts heading into the week and is No. 70 in the world, leads Ryan Gerard and Cam Davis by two. Gerard is playing in his first PGA Championship, while Davis, at one point this year, missed five cuts in a row.
Yes, of course, just getting into a major-championship field is a strong accomplishment. But this week was billed as a heavyweight bout and, for now, we’ve instead got a pillow fight.
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A three-time winner already on the PGA Tour this season, McIlroy seemingly couldn’t do anything right Thursday in Charlotte. He lost almost 2.5 strokes to the field with the putter, hit only 61 per cent of his greens, and only 28 per cent of his fairways. His average proximity to the hole after the first round was more than 50 feet — just the third time in more than 50 rounds at Quail Hollow he was that far away, on average, with his ball-striking.
McIlroy has an uphill climb with a weighted vest to come if he wants to triumph at a major, again, in 2025. Thirty-four of the last 35 PGA Championship winners have been within six shots of the lead after Round 1. And there have only been two instances in PGA Championship history where the winner came from 50th or worse on the leaderboard after the first round.
McIlroy, who is tied for 98th, was not alone in his struggles Thursday.
This marks just the second instance in the last 30 years where there are zero players among the top 10 in the world who are among the top 10 on the leaderboard at the conclusion of a round. Tyrell Hatton, who is tied for ninth, is No. 20.
Last week’s winner on the PGA Tour, Ryan Fox, made some early noise and fired a 4-under 67. European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald — in the field only because of his title with the squad — took full advantage, firing his own 4-under score. They’re amongst the group tied for fourth.
“Someone just told me it was the lowest first round in a major I’ve had since 2004. So, you know, obviously I’ve been trending with all the missed cuts coming into the week,” Donald said with a laugh.
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There is one name with some serious juice that had a solid, if unspectacular start to this championship. But considering where Scottie Scheffler is sitting after Round 1, after a 2-under 69, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him make a tidy move on Friday.
If, that is, the rule-makers decide to make a change.
One of the overarching storylines from Thursday morning was with respect to the PGA of America deciding to have the golfers play the ball down despite how much rain there has been at Quail Hollow over the last four days. That meant some serious mud-on-the-ball situations Thursday, with the whole of the powerhouse trio of Scheffler, defending champion Xander Schauffele, and McIlroy all making double bogey on the par-4 16th.
“When I look at golf tournaments, I want the purest, fairest test of golf, and in my opinion maybe the ball today should have been played up,” Scheffler said. “When you think about the purest test of golf, I don’t personally think that hitting the ball in the middle of the fairway you should get punished for.”
“The mud balls are going to get worse,” Schauffele, who shot a 1-over 72 to open his title defence, added.
Scheffler sits tied for 20th and his five back of the lead. But there isn’t much major pedigree ahead of him and he admitted Thursday he didn’t quite have his best stuff.
He’s chuffed to be in the mix and is hopeful the whole of his group, including McIlroy, can improve in the second round.
“You have a guy that just won the career Grand Slam, another guy that won two majors last year, and then I won a major last year, as well. It was a fun group. The crowd had great energy. Hopefully tomorrow it will play a little bit better,” Scheffler said. “Overall, it was a fun day. And I was glad to post a decent score.”
