“Rory McIlroy’s 1st Round Performance at 105th PGA Championship on Oak Hill Course”

He was eagerly awaited, as at every start to a Major since 2014. World number 3, Rory McIlroy, limited the breakage on Thursday in the 1st round of the 105th PGA Championship, on this Oak Hill course which he knows better than his work colleagues because he is an honorary member of the Rochester club.

And 105e PGA Championship started Thursday at Oak Hill almost two hours late, because of the morning frost. On the course, Rory McIlroy wasn’t in the shape of his life but he limited the damage well, somehow returning a 71 (+1) card.

The Northern Irish missed the cut at Masters in April. He will have to fight Friday to hang a ticket for the weekend. It will be easier if he hits more fairways than Thursday, at the drive: only two on 18 holes, which did not put him in the best conditions to score.

I fight with my swing. It’s a bit messy.

“I was not at my best level. I fight with my swing. It’s a bit messy. So I’m just trying to make parts”summed up McIlroy coming out of this slightly disappointing 1st round, started at 10. From the pars, he made 11 in total, but his card was a little spoiled by four bogeys (at 15, 17 and 18, then at 5), with three consolation prizes, birdies at 3, 4 and 8.

Par save & a beauty 🙌@McIlroyRory | #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/apV0yNmX1G

— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 18, 2023

“I don’t know what’s going to happen this weekend, but maybe I’ll think back to that number 2 hole on Sunday, then my tee-shot on the 3. Maybe that was the tipping point. After leaving the green from 2 to +3 (avoiding the bogey with a very long uphill putt, from outside the green, see video above), I chained two birdies at 3 and 4. It was as if the trend was reversing, as if I was back in the tournament”added the double winner of the PGA Championship (2012, 2014).

No victory since January in Dubai…

In difficulty with his swing this week, and with his putting for several weeks, McIlroy has not won since the Hero Dubaï Desert Classic in January, on the DP World Tour. His main reason for consolation, Thursday evening, was that he had finished better than started this first round, and that he had found “glimmers of hope”especially in his game of irons and his ability to easily get out of the rough… where he often fell. “I’m starting to get really good at getting out of the rough”he even joked.

Another reason for consolation or even encouragement for the future, McIlroy beat Thursday, at once, two other double winners of the PGA Championship, like him: Brooks Koepka et Justin Thomas (72). He also played better than Jordan Spieth et Shane Lowry (73), and much better than Jon Rahm (76), the world number 1. If he continues to stick to what he promised on Tuesday, ” don’t set too high expectations », the contract is about to be fulfilled.

Photo : Scott Taetsch/PGA of America