Rory McIlroy Shines in PGA Championship Amid Personal Turmoil

Still adored and still playing great, there was no better place than the golf course on Thursday for one of the game’s most popular players, who was in the headlines for different reasons coming into this week’s PGA Championship.

“It’s always nice to be inside the ropes,” Rory McIlroy said after shooting a 5-under 66 that had him tied for fifth, four shots behind Xander Schauffele after the first round.

The 35-year-old McIlroy’s filing of divorce papers earlier in the week made for one of the more buzzy subplots leading up to the year’s second major. For the second straight day with a microphone in his face, he refused to talk about it.

“Happy to be here,” he said when pressed on whether the sanctuary inside the ropes means just a little more this week.

He opened on the back nine, and two holes — Nos. 18 and 1 after he made the turn — were perfect examples of how to prevent a couple of bad shots from ruining a round.

On 18, the uphill par-5, he drove the ball into the front of the creek that runs down the right side of the fairway. There were course marshals all over, but it took a few minutes to pinpoint where the ball entered the hazard. Problem solved, McIlroy hit a wedge back to the fairway and got up and down from 112 yards to save par.

Then, on No. 1, he hit his drive into a slope in the right rough, which had grown lush after two days of rain. With the ball above his feet in the thick grass, McIlroy’s approach hit the flag and dropped to 5 feet for an easy birdie. It put him at two-under for the day.

“I could have easily bogeyed 18 and been back to even par, and then, that ball on 1 could have hit the flagstick and gone anywhere and I could have made bogey from that,” McIlroy said. “Instead of potentially being 1-over par through 10, I’m 2-under. So it’s a three-shot difference. It’s a big swing.”

McIlroy also chipped in from the rough in front of the green on No. 6, then made birdie on the par-5 seventh after hitting his drive into the rough.

McIlroy headed into Friday’s second round very much in the mix to win in his third straight start. Last weekend in Charlotte, he made it two in a row by reeling in none other than Schauffele, who started the final round with a one-shot lead over McIlroy and ended up losing to him by five.

There’s lots of time between the first round and Sunday. But after Day 1, the golf course felt like a pretty good place to be for McIlroy.

During his second round, McIlroy is currently even par and five-under for the tournament. McIlroy is priced at +850 to win the event on the FanDuel Sportsbook. 

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