McIlroy loses driving magic as Scheffler edges him by five shots at Quail Hollow
Rory McIlroy reacts on the 17th hole during the first round of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club on Thursday, May 15, 2025 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/PGA of America)
Mud balls were the talk of the Quail Hollow locker room but Rory McIlroy’s biggest problem was finding the fairways and keeping world number one Scottie Scheffler in his sights at the PGA Championship.
The PGA of America is averse to employing preferred lies unless there’s a danger of not finishing a tournament on time.
But there was no convincing chief championships officer, Kerry Haigh, who insisted the field play the ball down, even after the course received six inches of rain.
While he did not appear to have trouble with mud balls, given than he hit just four fairways and was playing mainly from wet rough, McIlroy’s three-over 74 left him tied for 98th, ten shots behind Venezuela’s Jhonattan Veas after not only struggling to find the short grass, but also making little more than a 10 footer for birdie at his opening hole.
He spent time on the driving range afterwards in an attempt to sort out a two-way miss he displayed in the marquee group with Scheffler and defending champion Xander Schauffele.
Schauffele was furious about mud balls after shooting a one-over 72 that left him tied with West Waterford’s Seamus Power.
“It is what it is, and a lot of guys are dealing with it, but it's just unfortunate to be hitting good shots and to pay them off that way,” Schauffele said of the mud ball situation, which came to a head at the tough par-four 16th.
McIlroy made a double bogey six after a big hook into the rough but Scheffler and Schauffele also walked off with sixes after watching their approaches from the middle of the fairway fly left into the water.
“I wouldn't want to go in the locker room because I'm sure a lot of guys aren't super happy with sort of the conditions there,” Schauffele said. “The mud balls are going to get worse.”
Scheffler was reluctant to comment on the preferred lies row but he made his feelings clear after hitting his approach stone dead to birdie the ninth and sign for a two-under 69.
“In golf, there's enough luck throughout a 72-hole tournament that I don't think the story should be whether or not the ball is played up or down,” Scheffler said. “When I look at golf tournaments, I want the purest, fairest test of golf, and in my opinion maybe the ball today should have been played up.”
McIlroy certainly struggled and followed a birdie at the 10th with a three putt bogey at the 11th.
He rode his luck at times but possibly jaded after his Masters heroics, he had 31 putts and lost more than two shots to the field on the slick greens.
He was outscored by Seamus Power, who was two-over after a birdie, double-bogey, bogey start.
But after making a 44 footer for an eagle two the 14th and a birdie at the 15th to get into the red, Power was disappointed to double-bogey the 16th and play the front nine in one-over en route to 72.
“It’s a disappointing one because it should have been or it could have been much better,” said Power, who had to make a nine footer at the ninth to avoid finishing with back to back bogeys and was then taken for random dope testing, where he was joined by Pádraig Harrington.
“The disappointing part is I wasn't really out of position much, just a couple of mud balls and everyone's probably getting them out there today.”
Shane Lowry is no fan of the course but after fighting back from three-over after 10 holes he was disappointed to shoot a 73 that left him tied with Harrington on two-over.
“I always struggle around here and today was one of those days,” said Lowry, who made a 25 footer for birdie at the third and a 68-foot monster at the fourth only to miss three birdie chances coming home before making bogey at his final hole after his only poor drive of the day.
“I am more disappointed with my finish than my start.I had two great chances on seven and eight and the bogey on nine was really annoying,” he said.
“I'll just have to shoot a low one tomorrow, but I just don't see the ball going close out there and I don't see birdies.”
Harrington played alongside Donald, who had just 23 putts and got up and down nine times out of nine for par.
But he blamed his mental game rather than a brace of three-putts for his 73.
“I did some good work with Bob Rotella but it was hard to do today,” confessed Harrington, who was one-under after eight holes before dropping four shots in a row. “It was great yesterday but it’s harder to bring to the golf course.”
He had no issue with the lack of preferred lies or mud balls but pointed to the firm and fast greens as the real test.
“The greens are just so fast,” he said. “You’re always afraid of the ball slipping three or four feet by. It was fair, it was expected. But it was certainly a difficult test.”
