Rusty McIlroy happy with Truist 66 as Lowry fires 64
Rory McIlroy wasn’t pushing any panic buttons after he opened with a “rusty” 66 in the $20 million Truist Championship in Philadelphia.
The Masters champion wants to become a six-time Major winner at next week’s PGA Championship and he felt he justified his bombs away strategy from the tee as he mixed six birdies with two bogeys to find himself tied for 25th, five shots behind leader Keith Mitchell.
While he made some mistakes, he was happy to see what parts of his game need work after playing just the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with Shane Lowry after his Augusta National heroics.
“It think it worked out fine,” the Holywood star said after hitting 12 drives between 316 and 373 yards on a low-scoring day at Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course where Lowry fired a bogey-free 64 to share seventh, just three shots off the pace.
“I drove the ball pretty well. I missed it in a couple of spots but was sort of able to get away with it.”
He made the turn in three-under 32 but after getting to four-under after 10 holes, he played the remainder in level par as he three putted the 11th before sandwiching a sloppy bogey six at the 15th between birdies at the 14th and 17th.
Tied for 25th on four-under, he was just five shots behind Mitchell, whose bogey-free, nine-under 61 gave him a one-shot lead over Denny McCarthy.
“The mistakes I made mostly were from around the greens, the three-putt on 12 and then making 6 at 15.,” McIlroy said
"Apart from that, I played pretty good. I felt like I was a little rusty out there, just hadn't played in a week and I hadn't really done a ton of practice, especially like on and around the greens.
“I certainly can tidy a few things up, but overall a decent day.”
McIlroy is using the event as practice for the PGA Championhip at Quail Hollow where he has won four times.
“I don't want to diminish this tournament and this championship,” McIlroy said. “But with everything that's happened over the past couple of weeks, this was always going to be a great prep week for me to see where my game was and refine a few things.
“I still want to play well, and I still want to have a chance to win the tournament, but I'll have a much better gauge of where my game is going into next week after these four days, than I would have had if I hadn't played or if I had to just spend the week at home practising.
"So this is an important week for me.”
Having wondered after the Masters what the press would talk about there next year now that he’s ended his wait for that fifth major and completed the Grand Slam, McIlroy suggested a few ideas.
“Hopefully in two weeks time we're talking about me being a six time major champion instead of a five time major champion,” he joked.
“I don't know. I mean, I was really referencing, like that specific tournament and sort of what we talk about in that building, you know, every year for the last 10 years.
“But there's enough great story lines in golf, whether it be like Scottie won by a million last week and seems to be playing back to his best.
“You've got Jordan Spieth going for the career Grand Slam next week. You've got a lot of exciting stuff happening in the women's game.
"So there's always great storylines in golf. And you know, it certainly doesn't just have to be about me.”
World number 12 Lowry will be flying under the radar in Charlotte after another great round.
He missed just two greens in regulation, rolling in a 12 footer for his sixth birdie of the day at his final hole.
