Rory McIlroy's blunt reply says it all after finish to forget

Rory McIlroy looks on from the ninth green during the first round of the PGA Championship. Pic: Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Rory McIlroy had a one-word answer to sum up his opening round at the PGA Championship on Thursday. Fittingly, it was blunt. 

The Irishman leaned towards the microphone with a crisp and clear reply: “Shit!” 

The Masters champion had arrived at the year’s second major having claimed two of the last five of golf's biggest prizes but was left chasing the leaders when his problems off the tee came back to bite him in a brutal closing stretch of five bogeys in his last six holes at Aronimink Golf Club.

The 4-over 74 left McIlroy seven back of a throng of early leaders, Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia among that cohort as other pre-tournament favourites like Scottie Scheffler and Cam Young went out in the afternoon wave north of Philadelphia.

McIlroy was likely to spend his afternoon seeking solutions to his driving issues as 11 missed fairways proved an insurmountable problem.

“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,” McIlroy lamented, his opening salvo featuring just two birdies and six bogeys either side of a run of 10-straight pars. 

“I didn't have great angles either. Then obviously you start missing it just off the edges of these greens, it gets tricky. I made that birdie on 5 to get back to even-par then I just got on that bogey train at the end.” 

At last year’s PGA Championship in Quail Hollow McIlroy’s big stick failed a pre-tournament compliance test and it derailed his challenge entirely. His Thursday annoyances this year weren’t far off those of 2025.

“I had to get into a backup pretty quickly [last year], and that threw me for a loop a little bit,” added McIlroy. “I'd say similar sense of frustration. I'm just, yeah, not driving the ball well enough to give myself enough scoring opportunities.

“It's been a problem all year for the most part. I miss it right, and then I want to try to correct it. And then I'll overdo it, and I'll miss it left. That's pretty frustrating, especially when I pride myself on driving the ball well.” McIlroy refused to blame his issues on the toe blister which had ailed him in the lead-in.

“I just need to try to figure it out,” he said. "I honestly thought I'd figured it out. Coming in here, I hit it well [last] Sunday at Quail Hollow, and then hit it good at home on Monday. Obviously I had to curtail the practice round Tuesday, but hit it decent yesterday. Once I get under the gun, it just seems like it starts to go a little bit wayward on me.”