Rory McIlroy admits he needs to improve his “wayward” driving after his bid for back-to-back major titles turns into a fight for a spot in the PGA Championship.
A month after successfully defending his title at Augusta National, McIlroy was among the favorites to win before the tournament at Aronimink Golf Club. The Northern Irishman is aiming to become the first player since Jordan Spieth to win the opening two men’s majors in a calendar year.
McIlroy, ranked No. 2 in the world, had a level par round with four holes left, but he suffered bogeys on each of the final four holes and struggled with both his tee shot and putter for a 4-over 74.
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Rory McIlroy warned fans about distracting spectators and making noise during their swings during the first round of the PGA Championship at Aronimink.
When asked how he would describe his season opener, McIlroy simply said, “It sucked.”
McIlroy added: “We’re not driving the ball enough. That’s been a problem all year long, most of the time. We’ll miss it to the right, so we’d like to fix that. And then we’ll do too much and we’ll miss it to the left.”
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Rory McIlroy responded to a question about the opening round of the PGA Championship with an expletive.
“It’s a little back and forth like that. So it’s pretty frustrating, especially when you pride yourself on driving the ball well. You just have to try to figure it out. Honestly, I thought I figured it out.”
“When I came here, I hit well on Sunday at Quail Hollow, and I hit well at home on Monday as well.Obviously, I had to cut back on my practice round on Tuesday, but I hit reasonably well yesterday.”
McIlroy is scheduled to tee off at 7:05pm UK/Ireland time on Friday.
“It seems like once you get your hands on a gun, you start to get a little bit selfish.”
What was wrong with McIlroy? Lowry had a big finish in the opening race.
McIlroy, who started on the back nine alongside Jon Rahm and Spieth, struggled to get the ball out of the rough on the 10th and started his round with a bogey on a wayward drive, but holed in a 6-foot birdie on the next hole and made up for it with par for the final nine.
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Rory McIlroy hit the opening bogey on the first hole of the PGA Championship after duffing a shot from thick rough at Aronimink.
The world No. 2 player continued to make consecutive pars despite struggling with his tee shot, but McIlroy got off to a slow start and stumbled, making another wrong drive on the 4th hole and suffering his second bogey of the day.
McIlroy made a 30-foot birdie on the fifth, but missed 6 feet in his next at-bat to save par, and on the seventh he had a poor drive and was forced to lay up on the par-4, making another bogey.
On the par-3 eighth, he failed to get off the green and suffered another drop shot, but McIlroy three-putted from long range on the final par-5, capping off a disappointing end to the day.
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Watch Rory McIlroy try to guess golfers based on the silhouette of their swing. (Photo provided by: CBS SPORTS)
“I started missing fairways,” McIlroy admitted. “I missed the fourth to the right of the fairway, the 6th to the right of the fairway, the 7th to the right of the fairway, the 9th to the right of the fairway. It was tough from there. The angle wasn’t very good either. Obviously, once you start hitting it off the edge of the green, it gets harder.”
“I felt like it went well. After a soft bogey on No. 4, I got a birdie on No. 5 to get back to even par. Then I got on the bogey train at the end.”
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A selection of Rory McIlroy’s best shots from his PGA Championship career.
McIlroy punished for tee shot
McIlroy missed all six of his final six fairways, finishing the round with four straight bogeys for the first time in his PGA Tour career and putting himself in danger of missing out on a spot in the PGA Championship for the first time since 2016.
“He (McIlroy) didn’t putt very well, but it all goes back to the tee shot,” former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley told Sky Sports. “All but one of his drop shots were wild off the tee and he couldn’t recover.
“We saw him win the Masters in style, but he got away with it because he was second from the bottom in driving accuracy. Today, Aronimink bit the guy who hit it in the rough.”
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Highlights from the final round of the Masters as Rory McIlroy defended his title in impressive fashion
“A lot of players this week said there’s no strategy off the tee and just belting the driver everywhere, but the scores proved otherwise. Missing the fairway is dangerous around here because the greens are dangerous. You need to hit the fairway to control it.”
Spieth shot a 1-under 69 and is aiming to tie McIlroy for the career Grand Slam, while Rahm finished the round with back-to-back birdies and tied for the same score.
Who will win the PGA Championship? Watch live coverage all week long on Sky Sports. Live coverage of the second round begins on Friday at 12.30pm on Sky Sports Golf. Get and stream Sky Sports without a contract.
