Rory McIlroy has admitted he needs to find improvement in his ‘wayward’ driving, having seen his bid for back-to-back major titles turn into a battle to make the cut at the PGA Championship.
McIlroy was among the pre-tournament favourites at Aronimink Golf Club, a month on from successful defending his title at Augusta National. The Northern Irishman is aiming to become the first player since Jordan Spieth to win the opening two men's majors of the calendar year.
The world No 2 was level par for his round with four holes to play but then bogeyed each of his last four holes, with McIlroy struggling both off the tee and with his putter during a four-over 74.
When asked how he would describe his opening round, McIlroy simply replied: "S***."
McIlroy added: "I'm just not driving the ball well enough. It's been a problem all year for the most part. 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.
"It's a little bit of back and forth that way. So that's pretty frustrating, especially when I pride myself on driving the ball well. I just need to try to figure it out. I honestly thought I'd figured it out.
"Coming in here, I hit it well on Sunday at Quail Hollow and then hit it good at home on Monday. Obviously had to curtail the practice round Tuesday, but hit it decent yesterday.
"Once I get under the gun, it just seems like it starts to go a little bit wayward on me."
McIlroy - starting on the back nine alongside Jon Rahm and Spieth - struggled to gauge the ball out of the rough a wayward drive on the tenth to open his round with a bogey, only to hole a six-foot birdie at the next and negotiate the rest of his first nine in pars.
The world No 2 continued his par streak despite struggling off the tee, only for McIlroy's late stumble to start when another errant drive at the fourth led to his second bogey of the day.
McIlroy drained a 30-foot birdie at the fifth but missed from six feet to save par at the next, with another bogeying following at the seventh after a poor drive left him having to lay up on the par four.
He failed to get up and down from off the green at the par-three eighth, resulting in another dropped shot, before McIlroy closed out a frustrating finish to his day by three-putting from long range at the par-five last.
"I started missing fairways," McIlroy conceded. "I missed the fairway right on four, the fairway right on six, the fairway right on seven, fairway right on nine. From there, it's hard. I didn't have great angles either. Obviously you start missing it just off the edges of these greens, it gets tricky.
"I felt like I did okay. I made that birdie on five to get back to even-par after the soft bogey on four, then I just got on that bogey train at the end."
McIlroy missed each of his last six fairways and finished a round with four consecutive bogeys for the first time in his PGA Tour career, leaving him at risk of missing the cut at the PGA Championship for the first time since 2016.
"He [McIlroy] didn't putt very well but it all goes back to off the tee," former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley told Your Site. "All of his dropped shots, except for one, were dropped from being wild off the tee and being unable to recover.
"We saw him win The Masters so brilliantly, but he was second-last for driving accuracy and so he got away with it. Today, Aronimink bit anyone who hit it in the rough.
"A lot of players said this week there was no strategy off the tee and you just belt driver everywhere but the scoring proved that is not the case. You miss fairways at your peril around here as the greens are treacherous. You need to hit the fairway to have control."
Spieth posted a one-under 69 as he looks to join McIlroy in completing the career Grand Slam, with Rahm on the same score after closing his round with back-to-back birdies.
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