McIlroy happy with opening-round performance

Rory McIlroy left Hazeltine National tonight satisfied with an opening-round 71 on his US PGA Championship debut.

The 20-year-old from Northern Ireland, ranked 29th in the world, started strongly on the par-72, 7,674-yard Minnesota course, the longest in major championship history, sinking three birdies in his first six holes having started on the back nine.

Two bogeys followed around the turn but the Dubai Desert Classic winner steadied the ship to come home with eight consecutive pars.

For McIlroy, who recorded his worst finish of the year last Sunday, a tie for 68th at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, that came as a welcome sign.

“I felt as if it was a very solid round,” McIlroy said. “It was quite the opposite to what I was playing like last week, which was nice, to turn it around.

“I got off to a great start, three under through six and I wasn’t able to keep that going but I felt as if I played very solid today, didn’t put myself in too many bad spots.

“So I was happy with one-under. It could have been a little better but I’ll take it.”