TULSA, Okla. – Earlier in the week, Rory McIlroy spoke to his desire to start major championships on a better note.
Mission accomplished.
McIlroy stole the spotlight from his co-stars in Thursday’s first round of the 104th PGA Championship at Southern Hills, grabbing the clubhouse lead with a 5-under 65 while Tiger Woods limped home with a 74 and Jordan Spieth grinded his way to a 72 in front of massive but subdued galleries.
“It was a great start to the tournament,” McIlroy said. “I’ve been playing well coming in here. I’ve been carrying some good form. And played good in the practice rounds earlier this week.
“I think when your game is feeling like that, it’s just a matter of going out there and really sticking to your game plan, executing as well as you possibly can, and just sort of staying in your own little world. I did that really well today.”
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The four-time major champion and two-time Wanamaker Trophy winner is well aware that it’s been nearly 8 years since he won one of the game’s most coveted titles, his last coming in the 2014 PGA Championship. One of the reasons behind the drought has been his inability to get off on the right foot. In the past eight years, his average in the first round is nearly 2.5 strokes higher than the other three rounds.
In the Masters in April, McIlroy was kicking himself after opening with rounds of 73-73 and then seeing his weekend rounds of 71-64 – by far the lowest total in the final two rounds – falling three strokes short.
“It was nice to get off to that good start and sorta keep it going,” he said.
Starting on the back nine, McIlroy made four consecutive birdies beginning at the 12th, added two more after the turn at the second and fourth, and finished off his day with a birdie from 18 feet on the last.
“I feel like this course, it lets you be pretty aggressive off the tee if you want to be, so I hit quite a lot of drivers out there and took advantage of my length and finished that off with some nice iron play and some nice putting,” said McIlroy, who blasted past the 300-yard barrier with his driver 11 times. He added that he is more comfortable hitting his driver left to right at the moment instead of his powerful tight draw. “I think just happy with when you get off to a good start like that, sometimes you can maybe start to be a little careful or start to give yourself a little more margin for error, but I stuck to my game plan.
“I stayed aggressive, hit that driver up 4, took an aggressive line on 5. I stuck to what I was trying to do out there, which I was pleased with.”
Will Zalatoris opened with a 66, his lowest career round in a major championship, to grab a share of second with Pebble Beach winner Tom Hoge. At 67 were Matt Kuchar and Abraham Ancer, both looking for their first major.
“I had a pretty rough week last week, was pretty frustrated, and I kind of had to dig it out of the dirt over the weekend after I missed the cut at home (in the AT&T Byron Nelson),” Zalatoris said. “The beauty of it is it’s just never as far off as you feel. Even in prep the last few days, I was pretty frustrated still, and it just kind of clicked last night. Better late than never.”
Woods looked sharp early with birdies on the 10th and 14th. From there, however, Woods made seven bogeys and just one birdie. Late in the round, he looked to be in more pain than usual and afterward was limping noticeably.
“My leg is not feeling as good as I would like it to be,” he said. “We’ll start the recovery process and get after it tomorrow.”
When his right leg, ankle and foot are hurting, Woods said it affects his swing.
“Well, I just can’t load it,” said Woods, who has a late tee time on Friday. “Loading hurts, pressing off it hurts, and walking hurts, and twisting hurts.”
