McIlroy seizes PGA lead as Tiger, Spieth struggle

Rory McIlroy shot his best opening round at a major in 11 years to take the lead at the PGA Championship, while Tiger Woods struggled in his second tournament since suffering significant leg injuries.

McIlroy, who hasn’t won a major since the 2014 PGA, shot a five-under-par 65 to take a one-stroke lead over Americans Will Zalatoris and Tom Hoge. Americans Justin Thomas and Matt Kuchar, as well as Mexico’s Abraham Ancer, all shot 67.

McIlroy’s best opening round in a major since a 65 at the 2011 US Open, which he won for his first major championship, was sparked by four straight birdies, matching his longest such run in a major.

“It was a great start to the tournament,” McIlroy said. “It was nice to get off to that good start and keep it going.”

In front of a large audience, four-time major champion McIlroy started on the second nine with 15-time major winner Woods and Jordan Spieth.

Woods, who won the Masters last month after a car accident left him unable to walk for months, birdied the 10th and par-3 14th holes but made bogeys on six of his final ten holes to finish with a 74, while Spieth, chasing a career Grand Slam, finished with a 72.

“Off to a good start,” Woods said. “Hit a lot of bad iron shots late. I just never got the ball close to have any good birdie putts. I kept putting it into bad spots.

“It was a frustrating day.”

McIlroy has had a terrible major start, having last led a significant round at the 2014 PGA, but the Masters runner-up ripped off four consecutive birdies from the 12th through 15th holes.

The Northern Ireland native birdied the par-4 12th with an approach that was inches from the cup, escaped a bunker for a tap-in birdie at the par-5 13th, and converted a 26-foot birdie putt at the par-3 14th.

“When your game is feeling like that, it’s just a matter of going out there and really sticking to your game plan, executing as well as you possibly can,” McIlroy said.

McIlroy took the lead with a nine-foot birdie putt at 15 and preserved it with par saves at 16 and 18 courtesy to a chip to two feet and a six-foot putt.

McIlroy scored a 14-foot birdie putt at the second hole and an 11-foot birdie at the par-5 fifth, but he missed the green and bogeyed the par-3 sixth and par-3 eighth holes before finishing with a birdie putt from just inside 19 feet at the ninth hole.

With four top-eight finishes in seven major starts, Zalatoris put a career-high 150 feet, including birdies from 30 feet at the ninth, 23 feet at the 12th, 26 feet at the 13th, and 24 feet at the seventh.

“It’s super fun whenever you have days like that,” Zalatoris said. “It was kind of a bizarre day.”

Hoge, a February winner at Pebble Beach, was happy with his 66 as well.

“I was scrambling pretty good and got up-and-down on all of them,” Hoge said. “That really gave me some momentum going forward.”

Thomas, the 2017 PGA winner, sank a 20-foot birdie putt at 18 to pull within two of McIlroy.

“I’d call any birdie on 18 a steal,” Thomas said. “To finish the day with a three there was a great bonus.”

‘My leg not feeling good’: Woods

Woods, who is now ranked 818th in the world, revealed that his surgically repaired right leg “hurt.”

“My leg is not feeling as good as I would like it to be,” said Woods.

On his route to a 72, three-time major winner Spieth had three bogeys in four holes starting at hole 15.

The world’s top three golfers combined for an over-par performance.

Scottie Scheffler, the world number one Masters champion, made five bogeys in the last ten holes to finish with a 71.

Jon Rahm, the second-ranked Spaniard and winner of the 2021 US Open, shot 73, while Collin Morikawa, the reigning British Open champion, shot 72 with only one birdie.

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