Soft conditions were the order of play on day one of PGA Championship as Rory McIlroy beats his playing partner Dustin Johnson by seven shots
Rory McIlroy started his first round of PGA Championship at 01:15PM Irish time with LIV Tour member Dustin Johnson and 2013 US Open champion Justin Rose. This group started their round at the par five 10th hole and McIlroy opened up with a birdie to reach -1. The four-time major champion took advantage of a sensational iron shot at his fourth hole to reach -2. McIlroy’s tee shot at the 18th hole found a penalty area but managed to get up & down from 99 yards to avoid two bogeys in a row and shoot a front nine of -1.
Northern Irishman was out of position at his 10th hole and was extremely lucky that his second shot from 166 yards collided with the pin and held a six-foot birdie putt. McIlroy moved up the leaderboard to -3 due to getting up and down from 146 yards at his 14th hole. An exhibition of short game play as McIlroy held his third shot for birdie at six. McIlroy’s final birdie of day one came at the seventh hole and two pars at eight & nine were good enough for an impressive -5 round of 66. McIlroy was outclassed on day one by Xander Schauffele especially with breaking Valhalla course record of 63 and the only golfer to shoot two major rounds of 62. McIlroy is in great shape only four shots behind leader Schauffele going into day two.
Shane Lowry teed off at 6:28pm Irish time with 2015 PGA Championship winner Jason Day and 2023 DP World Tour Championship winner Nicolai Hojgaard. The Offaly native got off to an extremely poor start with playing holes one and two in +2. Lowry shot an impressive back nine of -3 which included a birdie at the extremely difficult 216 yard par three 11th hole. Lowry signed for an opening round of -2 69 and is seven shots behind 18 hole -9 leader Schauffele. Fellow Irishman Padraig Harrington will have a battle on his hands to make the halfway cut as he is currently +6.
Schauffele’s nearest challengers are Sahith Theegala, Tony Finau and Mark Hubbard all tied second on -6. McIlroy has company on -5 in Tom Kim, two-time major champion Collin Morikawa, 2023 Europe Ryder Cup star Robert MacIntyre, Thomas Detry, Tom Hoge and Maverick McNealy. World number one Scottie Scheffler shot an opening -4 round of 67 which included holing his second shot for eagle at the first hole. Three-time PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka is in striking distance as he matched Scheffler with a round of -4. Jon Rahm showed character to shoot an under-par round of -1 and both Four-time PGA Championship winner Tiger Woods & Ludvig Aberg are two behind Spaniard on +1. 31 players are in six shots of Schauffele including McIlroy and it’s set up for three more exciting days of golf and hopefully not ruined by bad weather.