CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It was a curious start to the PGA Championship for Rory McIlroy and that, to be frank, is being generous.
McIlroy, the Masters champ and among the favourites this week at Quail Hollow Club — a place he’s dominated over his 15-year career — opened with a 3-over 74. He was nine shots behind Ryan Gerard, who led the way after the morning wave with a 5-under 66.
It’s Gerard’s PGA Championship debut.
A three-time winner already on the PGA Tour this season, McIlroy seemingly couldn’t do anything right Thursday in Charlotte. He lost almost 2.5 strokes to the field with the putter and hit only 61 per cent of his greens and 28 per cent of his fairways. His average proximity to the hole after the first round was more than 50 feet — just the third time in more than 50 rounds at Quail Hollow he was that far away, on average, with his ball-striking.
McIlroy has an uphill climb with a weighted vest to come if he wants to triumph at his second straight major. Thirty-four of the last 35 PGA Championship winners have been within six shots of the lead after round one.
McIlroy was not alone in his struggles Thursday morning, as the top of the leaderboard with lunch served featured plenty of names without much major pedigree like Stephan Jaeger, Alex Noren and J.T. Poston.
Last week’s winner on the PGA Tour, Ryan Fox, made some early noise and fired a 4-under 67. European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald — in the field only because of his title with the squad — took full advantage, firing his own 4-under score.
“Someone just told me it was the lowest first round in a major I’ve had since 2004. So, you know, obviously I’ve been trending with all the missed cuts coming into the week,” Donald said with a laugh.
Corey Conners was the lone Canadian to tee off in the morning Thursday and he had his share of struggles. Conners shot a 2-over 73 and admitted afterwards he was very disappointed in his Day 1 effort.
“I felt like I hit the ball fine, gave myself some looks, kept myself in decent position, just scored the ball… horrendously,” Conners said with a self-deprecating smile.
Conners started on the back nine and made a bogey on the par-3 13th but immediately got it back with two birdies in a row on Nos. 14-15. But he made a sloppy double bogey on No. 17 after missing a two-footer and added two more bogeys on his second nine, with a birdie on the par-5 7th mixed in.
Everything about Thursday seemed uncharacteristic for Conners, who hit 92 per cent of his fairways but only 50 per cent of greens. He also lost more than a shot with his putter.
“Any time I had a decent look for birdie I wasn’t able to knock it in. Some sloppy bogeys throughout the round. Felt like the putter let me down. Wasn’t able to get any momentum going with that,” Conners said.
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There is one name with some serious juice that had a solid, if unspectacular, start to this championship. But considering where Scottie Scheffler is sitting after Round 1, with a 2-under 69, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him made a tidy move on Friday.
If, that is, the rule-makers decide to make a change.
One of the overarching storylines from Thursday morning was with respect to the PGA of America deciding to have the golfers play the ball down — despite how much rain there has been at Quail Hollow over the last four days. That meant some serious mud-ball situations Thursday, with the entires powerhouse trio of Scheffler, defending champion Xander Schauffele and McIlroy all making double bogey on the par-4 16th.
“When I look at golf tournaments, I want the purest, fairest test of golf, and in my opinion maybe the ball today should have been played up,” Scheffler said. “When you think about the purest test of golf, I don’t personally think that hitting the ball in the middle of the fairway you should get punished for.”
“The mud balls are going to get worse,” Schauffele, who shot a 1-over 72 to open his title defence, added.
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