‘I'm Fighting Something’: Rory McIlroy Salvages Opening 1-Over 71 But It Wasn't Pretty

The two-time PGA champion said he wasn't feeling well and he'd have felt worse had he not rallied late in his opening round at Oak Hill.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — You could see it in his eyes: Rory McIlroy is drained. 

Yet he still managed to post a 1-over 71 in Thursday's opening round of the PGA Championship after making the turn in 3 over and finding the fairway only twice all day. 

Despite scraping a decent score together—one which puts him five shots off Bryson DeChambeau’s lead—McIlroy admitted that something is holding him back this week. And it has nothing to do with his two-way miss off the tee, a recent trend that Tiger Woods is helping him fix, or his apparent decision to step away from being the de facto spokesperson for the PGA Tour. 

“I'm fighting something. I thought I got a great night's sleep last night, and I look at my Whoop, and I was 22 percent recovery, and my skin temperature was 3.5 degrees higher than what it's been. I'm fighting something. But I actually feel better today than I felt yesterday, so plenty of water and a bit of rest, I'll be fine,” McIlroy said. 

With a tight grasp on his bottle of water, McIlroy stood in the player interview area seemingly disappointed, but quietly optimistic considering the circumstances. 

The mixed emotions allowed him to poke fun of himself, while also maintaining a level of realism about the state of his game and what he needs to do to keep himself in the mix for his fifth major win.

“I'm getting pretty good at getting out of the rough. Getting pretty used to it,” McIlroy said. “I've always been able to get steep on it and have a bit of speed and maybe hit a couple extra clubs out of lies that maybe some guys can't, so that's a little bit of an advantage to me this week. Yeah, you are in for a tough day when you keep hitting it out of the rough like I was today.”

We might not have heard such lighthearted comments from McIlroy on Thursday afternoon if it he had not executed one pivotal shot behind Oak Hill’s second green, on his 11th hole of the day. 

McIlroy made a mess of the 410-yard par-4. He sprayed a driving iron into the right rough and only advanced his approach to the first cut, 38 yards short of the green on the left side for a chance to go up-and-down for par. 

The four-time major champion’s mistakes compounded when his chip shot skipped over the back of the green into one of the Donald Ross design’s infamous runoff areas. Opting for the putter on the tightly mown area, McIlroy’s stroke helped him find something he was missing all day: a smile. 

The Northern Irishman drained his long-range putt from the short grass. He might have made par in perhaps the most difficult way possibly, but that is exactly what he needed. 

“It was massive. I was staring sort of just hoping to get done in two and make bogey and go to the 3rd hole at 4 over par," McIlroy said. "When you walk off the green 3 over and then you hit a tee shot like that, and all of a sudden the pendulum swings or momentum goes the other way, and all of a sudden you make a couple of birdies in a row, and you feel like you're sort of right back in the tournament. 

“Depending on what happens over the next three days and what I go on to do, you know, I may look back at that shot as being the sort of turning point of the week." 

McIlroy went on to birdie both the par-3 3rd, a monstrous 230-yard par-3, and the par-5 4th, where he reached the green in two and two-putted from 22 feet. He couldn’t keep the hot streak going with a three-putt bogey on the 5th, but he managed to get one back on the 8th, sinking a 6 foot birdie putt on his penultimate hole. 

The run was enough to put him in a positive headspace heading into his tee time tomorrow—which may be pushed back due to this morning’s frost delay. 

“I feel a bit better than if I got off to a good start and made a couple of bogeys on the way in,” McIlroy said. “I guess, if anything, I started to see a couple of better golf shots coming down the last few holes. Hit that good 6-iron into the third hole and two great shots into 4. Good iron shot into 6. Nice wedge shot into 8. 

“There was a couple of glimmers of hope in there coming in.”