Rory McIlroy ‘in a good place’ ahead of PGA, nods to ‘relentless’ fans

FLOURTOWN, Pa. — With all due respect to the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, the PGA Tour’s lone team event, the Truist Championship was Rory McIlroy’s first real test of golf since winning the Masters.

The five-time major winner tied for seventh at 10 under par at the Philadelphia Cricket Club, six shots off Sepp Straka’s winning score.

McIlroy said entering the week that he was “excited to get back to being a golfer” and figure out where his game is at entering the second major of the year, the PGA Championship. Consider that task complete.

“I think I’m in a good place,” the Northern Irishman said Sunday. “I didn’t feel like I played all that well this week, I still finished seventh. Even my — what I feel is my bad golf, I’m still there or thereabouts.

“A couple little improvements and little tweaks, especially going to a place I love like Quail Hollow, and I feel like I’m in a really good spot.”

McIlroy shot in red figures all week, capped by Sunday’s 2-under 68 with 16 pars and two birdies. He did not make a bogey or worse over his final 28 holes of the tournament, but thought he missed several chances to climb the leaderboard.

“Overall I felt like I got a little better as the week went on, played good,” McIlroy said. “As you said, bogey-free. I wish I’d made a few more birdies. I’ve got a better gauge of where my game is standing here right now than I did at the start of the week. It was a good week for that.

“I wish I had gotten myself into contention a little bit more, but it was a good week, especially looking ahead to next week.”

McIlroy birdied the first hole Sunday but had to scramble for pars the rest of the front nine, mainly due to wayward drives. He hit only five fairways in regulation out of 14, following a surprising 3-for-14 performance on Saturday.

McIlroy theorized that wide-open fairways at the club’s Wissahickon Course may have actually thrown him off.

“I sort of struggled with this in Houston as well, whenever we get these big, wide-open golf courses where there’s not a ton of definition,” he said. “I think I would have hit more fairways if it had been tree lined. I felt like I drove it a little better on the back nine today, which was good.”

He won’t have to worry about course fit at the PGA Championship. Quail Hollow Club usually hosts the Truist Championship (formerly called the Wells Fargo Championship). McIlroy has won at Quail Hollow four times, including last year.

His fans were out in full force weeks after his historic Masters win. McIlroy was the most popular player on the property all week, and children screamed for his autograph as he concluded his media duties.

“They’re very enthusiastic,” McIlroy said of the Philadelphia fans. “They’re loud. They’re relentless in terms of like … I must have heard my name a million times this week.”

–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media