Rory McIlroy caps off 17 pars with closing birdie in return to Truist Championship

CHARLOTTE, NC – Having already matched one trivial milestone that can certainly be omitted from his Hall of Fame plaque,

Rory McIlroy was decided to keep away from one other.

“I can’t remember the last time I played a round of golf and didn’t have a birdie,” McIlroy thought as he walked up his ultimate gap in the rain-delayed opening spherical of the Truist Championship.

It’s one thing that McIlroy has executed seven occasions in his prolonged PGA TOUR profession, most just lately on the 2024 Masters. It felt seemingly that Thursday can be his eighth on TOUR with out a birdie or higher. But one unimaginable method and his longest made putt of the day modified that, giving McIlroy a 1-under 70.

Quail Hollow’s ninth gap, a brutish par-4 measuring 539 yards, is an unlikely place to discover a birdie, particularly after a participant misses the green, as McIlroy did.

But McIlroy hoisted a 9-iron from the left tough 194 yards over the bushes, his ball stopping 15 ft from the opening. He raised his arms in sardonic celebration when the putt discovered the underside of the opening.

“When I was… walking up to the ball, I was just hoping that the ball was far enough back that I could get it up over that tree,” McIlroy stated. “It was a bit of a flier lie. … I’ve always been pretty comfortable trying to launch it high and get it up there. So it probably wasn’t as difficult as what it looked on TV.”

McIlroy set a private finest by beginning Thursday’s spherical with 17 consecutive pars; his earlier file of 15 was set again in 2010. He additionally tied his private finest for many pars in a spherical. He did it on two earlier events, making a lone birdie in a type of rounds and a lone bogey in the opposite.

McIlroy will begin the second spherical seven strokes behind the chief Matt McCartywho took benefit of a Quail Hollow Club softened by in a single day rains that delayed Thursday’s begin till 12:30 pm

Still, it was a strong return to the TOUR for McIlroy, who’s making his first begin since successful a second straight Masters. He gained roughly a stroke on the sphere with each his driving and method play however misplaced strokes round and on the greens.

“I wasn’t frustrated, I was hitting good putts,” McIlroy stated. “Some days they just don’t want to go in.”