Rory McIlroy Perfectly Summed Up His Opening Round with One Word

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Rory McIlroy didn’t have his best stuff at Aronimink Thursday morning. He couldn’t find it with the driver, leaving himself in some tricky spots around the Donald Ross design. When I picked him up on the first hole, his 10th of the day, he found the fairway—but he didn’t hit another on his way back to the clubhouse. He got away with the misses for a bit, but finished the day by writing four straight squares on his scorecard.

When he arrived for his post-round interview, he was asked to describe his round. He used a single but telling word, “Shit.”

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“I'm just not driving the ball well enough. It's been a problem all year for the most part. Yeah, I've sort of got, like 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,” he elaborated.

McIlroy added that he hit driver well on Sunday at Quail Hollow, again back home on Monday, but once he’s gotten under the gun, he’s had some wayward misses.

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On the bright side, if the morning wave taught us anything, it’s that he’s not out of this tournament. Aldrich Potgieter, Stephan Jaeger, Min Woo Lee, and Ryo Hisatsune tied for the lowest round at 3 under. Unless someone goes deep in the afternoon—looking at you, Scottie Scheffler—McIlroy will be seven shots back going into Friday.

But history isn’t on his side. According to everyone’s favorite golf statistician Justin Ray, the last player to begin the PGA Championship with a 74 or higher and win was Payne Stewart in 1989. Regardless, McIlroy has some work to do.