‘Messy’ McIlroy salvages score on testing day

BATTLING ON: Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, reacts after missing a putt on the 11th hole. Pic: AP Photo/Eric Gay

The new restored Oak Hill showed its full range of tests in a frosty first round Thursday morning, yielding a relative balance of birdies and bogeys that kept anyone from running away to control the early narrative at the PGA Championship.

The world’s top three players were representative of the good, the average and the ugly that the morning produced.