Rory McIlroy digs deep to finish five under after round one at the PGA Championship

SCRAMBLED WELL: Rory McIlroy wasn’t his usual self with the driver on Thursday, but his wedges and putter bailed him out with a solid 5-under 66 to put himself right were he wants to be in the hunt after the first round of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club. Pic: AP Photo/Matt York

Rory McIlroy wasn’t his usual self with the driver on Thursday, but his wedges and putter bailed him out with a solid 5-under 66 to put himself right were he wants to be in the hunt after the first round of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club.

McIlroy made four birdies on his inward nine on the front – including three straight on 5, 6 and 7 – to keep relative pace with record-setting leader Xander Schauffele’s blistering 62.

“A little erratic off the tee, but apart from that I scrambled well and I putted great for the most part,” McIlroy said. “Not the prettiest 66 but I hung in there.

“I sort of felt like it was pretty scrappy for the most part. I don’t really feel like I left many out there. I thought I got a lot out of my game today. Some good up-and-downs, the chip-in on 6. I had a little bit of a scrappy part around the turn there, but overall … not really happy with how I played but at least happy with the score.” 

It was important round to post a number, with Schauffele going deep and red scores littering the morning wave in optimal scoring conditions.

“Greens are really soft, especially for the guys that played last week at Quail Hollow where the greens were particularly firm,” McIlroy said. 

“You come to greens like this, second shots are easier. Chip shots are easier if you do miss the greens. I think just the difference between last week in Charlotte and this week, it’s a big difference, and I think for the guys that played last week. It’s just a little less challenging at the minute around the greens.” 

Starting in the sixth grouping off the 10th tee, McIlroy made the first birdie of the day on the par-5 hole after hitting a lovely wedge from 100 yards to 6 feet.

He added another birdie on the signature par-4 13th, hitting another wedge into the island green from 100 yards to 10 feet and pouring in the birdie putt.

His putter kept working nicely on 16, where he holed a 7-footer to save par after putting his approach in the greenside bunker.

His putter couldn’t save him, however, on 17 when he went from fairway bunker to greenside bunker and couldn’t make the 10-footer to avoid his only bogey of the day.

McIlroy followed that miscue with another mistake off the 18th tee, pushing his drive right into the cascading water hazard on the uphill par-5 hole. After his drop, he “took my medicine” and laid up, saving par with a 7-footer to make the turn at 1-under – four shots behind leader Xander Schauffele playing in two groups in front of him.

On the front side, McIlroy got off to another good start with a birdie on 1 after a brilliant approach from 165 yards in the rough nearly flew into the cup and left him 5 feet after hitting the flagstick.

“It was huge,” he said of the transition at the turn. “I could have easily bogeyed 18 and been back to even par, and then again, that ball on 1 could have hit the flagstick and went anywhere. I could have made bogey from that. Potentially being 1-over par through 10, I’m 2-under. So it’s a three-shot difference. It’s a big swing.” 

He stuffed another approach close from 146 yards on No. 5 to set up another birdie and then picked up a stroke on the field by chipping in from 27 feet for only the second birdie of the morning on the difficult par-4 sixth.

He cozied up a little wedge on the par-5 seventh for his third consecutive birdie to climb to 5-under and tied fourth with Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre at the end of the morning wave.

McIlroy remains entirely focused on the golf and unwilling to discuss his personal life after filing for divorce on Monday. Asked twice about being inside the ropes to take his mind off his personal issues and compartmentalizing distraction, McIlroy gave a pair of terse answers.

“It’s always nice to be inside the ropes,” he said to the first, and then “happy to be here” on the second.