PGA Championship: Rory McIlroy counts cost of sloppy closing run

Rory McIlroy hits from the fairway on the 10th hole. Pic: AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

Rory McIlroy was left to count the cost of a really ragged closing run which left him playing instant catch-up at the PGA Championship in Philadelphia.

After signing for a 4-over 74 to kick off the year’s second major, McIlroy was asked to describe his round and gave a one-word answer: “shit”. 

It was hard to argue.

Among the early morning starters in Thursday’s opening round, McIlroy looked to have navigated the tougher half of Aronimink Golf Club after starting on the 10th and sitting on even par as he made the turn to face what was proving to be the more scoreable front nine as the temperatures climbed a little.

However with lunchtime winds swirling and the picturesque parklands proving a significantly more testing prospect than anticipated, McIlroy’s round got erratic and ugly at the wrong time, carding five bogeys in the space of six holes from the fourth hole, his 13th. 

His back nine 39 was six shots worse than the 33 he’d carded on the front. A lip-out bogey six on his final hole summed it up as McIlroy made for the clubhouse with his shoulders slumped.

It wasn’t that luck escaped the Masters champion because most of the issues were self-inflicted from the tee box as he hit just five of 14 fairways in total and found that predictions that a ‘bomb and gauge’ approach would work proved very off the mark.

“I started missing fairways. I missed the fairway right on 4, the fairway right on 6, the fairway right on 7, fairway right on 9. From there, it's hard you know, I didn't have great angles either,” McIlroy added. “Then obviously you start missing it just off the edges of these greens, it gets tricky. I just got on that bogey train at the end.” 

McIlroy’s sole birdie on his back nine arrived on the short fifth hole and he signed for a 74 which left him seven off the leaders with the afternoon starters just getting going.

Among that cohort was Scottie Scheffler, the world No.1. 

Many pre-tournament predictions had centred on whether this week would serve up a toe-to-toe battle between the sport’s two leading lights. McIlroy, who was dealing with a toe complaint in the days leading into action in Pennsylvania, will have a lot of work to do to get anywhere close to fulfilling his half of the bargain.

At the front of the field was an eclectic trio of Thursday leaders: South Africa’s Aldrich Potgieter, German Stephan Jaeger and Min Woo Lee of Australia. All signed for 3-under 67s with 2024 champion Xander Schauffele chief among the chasing pack a shot further back.

As many forecasts went instantly up into the thin Thursday morning air, who would have foreseen Jordan Spieth being the steady one in the marquee group alongside McIlroy and Jon Rahm? 

Spieth is making his tenth tilt at completing a career grand slam of his own and signed for a solid 1-under 69, matched by Rahm who birdied the last.

McIlroy’s one-time protege endured a similarly frustrating opening exchange with the Donald Ross-designed track. 

Tom McKibbin would likely have arrived in major week eager to put LIV uncertainties behind him for a few days but his opening round proved to be a fitting tribute to the Saudis’ upstart tour. 

It started with a big bang before faltering early and often and left facing into what looks a short shelf life.

McKibbin, playing in his second PGA Championship, got off to a perfect start with a birdie on the first but then produced six bogeys in a nine-hole stretch from the fourth to the 12th. A couple of birdies coming in were offset by one more bogey on the 15th hole to card a very erected 4-over 74.

Padraig Harrington’s eve-of-battle assertion that “I'm actually as negative as I could be right now” didn’t bode well given he has been one of the most consistently positive figures in Irish sport for the guts of 30 years. The Dubliner, PGA champion in 2008, had to battle that negativity for fully 15 holes before his first birdie of the day arrived on the long 16th. 

That brought him back to 3-over for the day but he immediately gave another back with an errant tee shot on the par-3 17th. A par on the last left Harrington level with his compatriot on 4-over in an early, but ugly, tie for 106th.

It could always have been worse. Bryson DeChambeau continued to plumb major championship depths as he signed for a 76 which is very much in keeping with his recent history on golf’s biggest days. 

Five bogeys and a double on the short eighth, his 17th, left the LIV figurehead threatening to be last of all. His lone birdie of the day came on the last.

The last of the Irish quartet, Shane Lowry, was in with the later starters and got off to an inauspicious start, carding a bogey five on the first.