TULSA — Might this be the place after the long and winding hunt? Might Rory McIlroy end his nutty straggle through his major-golf desert here? Might his first win since 2014 come at this storied course with the elegant little clock tower and the blip of a skyline in the distance, amid boulevards rich in strip malls, churches and medical marijuana dispensaries?
Could Rory McIlroy’s major drought end at PGA? After 18 holes, it’s a maybe.
The 5-under-par 65 he shot Thursday morning and midday at Southern Hills suggests that old, tantalizing golf word: maybe. It was his best first round both in score and in relation to par in the 28 major tournaments he has tried since winning that 2014 PGA Championship in Louisville, the title that gave him a celestial four majors out of the past 15 at the time and put wild ideas in wise people who began yammering about double-digit majors for the lad.
From 4 for 15 (and a stellar 4 for 24 as a pro overall) to 0 for 28 to here, McIlroy topped the leader board all day at the 104th PGA Championship, and it bears repeating that his age did just hit a mere 33. His lead was one shot over Will Zalatoris and Tom Hoge, but his start echoed to yesteryear, when he would zoom from the gate and manhandle majors as he won the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional, the 2012 PGA at Kiawah Island, the 2014 British Open at Royal Liverpool and the 2014 PGA at Valhalla.
Those four starts: 65, 67, 66, 66.
“Yeah, look, it was a great start to the tournament,” he said. “I’ve been playing well coming in here. I’ve been carrying some good form. Obviously that took a lot from that last round at Augusta [his 64 at the Masters], played well up in D.C. at the Wells Fargo there [finishing fifth] 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.”
In fact, the 2022 Masters upheld something that can feel like a pattern even if it’s not quite: splattered starts followed by inconsequential recoveries. That 64 ushered McIlroy up from the leader board hinterlands to a finish alone at No. 2 behind Scottie Scheffler, his non-contention through the first three days owing to his opening days of 73 and 73. The Masters became the 22nd of his past 27 majors in which he opened with a score above the 60s.
Some of those Thursdays brought duds — such as the 76 at the 2021 Masters, the 80 at the 2018 U.S. Open, the 78 at the 2017 U.S. Open and the somber 79 from the 2019 British Open at Royal Portrush in his native Northern Ireland. (“Is there a way back?” went a question after that. “Definitely a way back to Florida,” McIlroy said, referring to his home. He shot a 65 on Friday and almost got to Saturday.) In truth, many of his opening rounds wound up the blasé middle, with 14 of them between 1 under and 1 over.
None had bested 3 under until Thursday, even if McIlroy watchers might wince at his tee time for Friday — set for the afternoon. Morning people fared better than afternoon people Thursday.
“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,” he said. “I stayed aggressive, hit that driver up 4, took an aggressive line on 5. Yeah, I stuck to what I was trying to do there, which I was pleased with.”
Here at an honest course that long has used its majors to reward winners who won majors elsewhere — Dave Stockton, Hubert Green, Raymond Floyd, Nick Price, Retief Goosen, Tiger Woods — McIlroy sat atop the typical loaded PGA leader board.
In behind at 4 under was Zalatoris, the 25-year-old who ran second at the 2021 Masters and on Thursday uttered the enviable passage, “I think I made either four or five 25-footers.” (It must be nice not to know for sure.) Alongside Zalatoris was Hoge, the winner this year at Pebble Beach and the TCU Horned Frog who said, “It was tough, but I live in Fort Worth, so just down the road a little bit, and feel like it’s pretty similar conditions,” so he knows the winds — even the winds of Fargo, N.D., where he has spent many of his years. (Now, those are some winds.)
Behind them at 3 under sat three souls: Justin Thomas, the 2017 champion who’s now 29; 31-year-old Mexican and University of Oklahoma man Abraham Ancer, ranked No. 21; and 43-year-old Matt Kuchar, keeping up the good hunt for a first major in his 64th try. The nine people just behind them at 2 under included Xander Schauffele, that habitual major contender trying to rebound from missing the Masters cut. Scheffler, ranked a resounding No. 1 in the world, shot a 1-over 71 in the hard afternoon.
“I have to think the members must dread 18,” Kuchar said of the 490-yard, par-4 closer that figures to have a big say in this by Sunday night and that ranked No. 1 in difficulty Thursday. “I try to envision how they play it. I don’t know that they can tee off enough forward to enjoy that golf hole.”
He parred it anyway, as did McIlroy, who made putts of nine, 14 and 18 feet among his seven birdies. He drove it like a phenom — 331 yards per (tied for second in the field), 10 of 14 fairways — and regulated it like a pro — 12 of 18 greens. He had come to northeast Oklahoma early this week, experienced the course for the first time and raved about Gil Hanse’s renovation. “I love that he gives you options off the tee,” McIlroy had said Tuesday, just before he added, “You can’t plan on getting out ahead,” two days before he did just that.
So maybe this is the one.
Source: WP
