Rory McIlroy Finally Gets Out to Fast Start at a Major, Leads PGA Early in First Round

The Ulsterman is chasing his third PGA championship but hasn't won a major in eight years, often due to poor opening rounds.

TULSA, Okla. – Since winning his fourth major title nearly eight years ago, Rory McIlroy has suffered a familiar fate at the game’s biggest tournaments: slow starts.

He did his best Thursday to alter that narrative, shooting a 5-under-par 65 at Southern Hills Country Club to take an early one-shot lead over Will Zalatoris and Tom Hoge while play continued in the first round of the PGA Championship.

There were 14 players within three shots of the lead.

MORE: Live updates from Round 1 at Southern Hills

McIlroy, 33, birdied four straight holes from the 12th through the 15th on his opening nine to turn in 31, then added three birdies and two bogeys over the front side – including a birdie at the last – to shoot his lowest opening-round score since he had a 65 in the first round of the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional –where he won his first major championship.

“It was a great start to the tournament,’’ said McIlroy, who hit 10 of 14 fairways, 12 of 18 greens and needed just 25 putts. “I've been playing well coming in here. I've been carrying some good form. Obviously took a lot from that last round at Augusta (a 64), played well up in D.C. at the Wells Fargo there, 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. It was nice to get off to that good start and sort of keep it going.

“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.’’

Playing with Jordan Spieth (72) and Tiger Woods (74), McIlroy was second in the field in strokes gained off the tee and sixth in stroked gained tee to green. He was also third in strokes gain putting.

Since winning the 2014 PGA at Valhalla for his second straight major and fourth in three years, McIlroy has 14 top-10s in 27 major starts, including a second-place finish last month at the Masters when the final-round 64 was not enough to overcome Scottie Scheffler.

Zalatoris, 25, is playing in just his eight major championship, but he already had four top-10s, including a runner-up finish to Hideki Matsuyama at the 2021 Masters. But he has yet to win on the PGA Tour. His 66 included six birdies and two bogeys.

“It’s super fun whenever you have days like that,’’ said Zalatoris, who hit 15 of 18 greens. “I think I either made four or five 25-footers. It was kind of a bizarre day. I didn't drive it great early and then drove it nicely at the end, but I think all six of my birdies came from the rough today, which is just very bizarre.

“I'm very pleased with today, obviously. Anytime you can put up a 66 in a major, you're obviously happy.’’

Hoge, who also shot 66, captured his first PGA Tour title earlier this year at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. In seven prior major starts, he’s never finished better than a tie for 39th.

“The golf course is so difficult that you almost throw a score out to a certain extent this early on in the tournament that you just try to keep battling,’’ he said. “Pars are good out there, and just try to keep grinding away and checking off hole by hole as we go.

“If you get to Sunday and you're kind of in the mix then score becomes a little more important obviously, and we'll figure that out at that point.’’