Rory McIlroy Truist Championship First Round Highlights

As we take a look at Rory McIlroy's highlights now, he starts on the par 5-10, his first start since the Masters Tournament, his tee shot. Yeah, this one starts down that right side, trying to get it to turn back to the left, it doesn't. This is going to miss through the fairway over there. Not the worst spot to be, but that would force a layup for Rory. Now his third shot here, this was from an awkward distance there. That lengthy bunker shot actually just Yeah, would open with par there at the par 5. Now on the par 4-18, his second shot from 192 yards. Yeah, really good tee shot down that left side and Rory gets very lucky here, pulls his second. Very fortunate that ball stays up in the grass above the penalty area. Very fortunate indeed. Now he's got this par putt outside of 10 feet. And we didn't see Rory make much today, but that was a good save there making the turn. Now makes par on the first nine holes. Now still at even par on the par 4-3, his second from 163. It's so impressive here, able to hoist this up over the top of that tree on the corner and get this ball to come down so softly. And get himself inside of six feet. He has, you know, pretty good opportunity for Birdie here. Yeah, it started with 11 pars. He thought he was going to break that streak, but unfortunately does not. 12 straight pars at that point for Rory McIlroy. Now still at even par on the par 3-6. Birdie putt from just off the green. Sixth hole playing over 230 yards today. A very good tee shot to this point and that looked good for a long time. Just misses on the low side. 15 straight pars for Rory there. Now on the next hole, the par 5-7, his 16th hole of the day. He was out of position off the tee. Missed his tee shot down that left side, laid up. Third shot to this point and another one that just misses a little bit low. Seen this movie before. He stays at even par. Now after another par at eight, finishing on the par 4-9. His second shot from 198 yards. Yeah, big tee shot down that left side. Wasn't happy with us, but the result was actually going to be very good. This one releases out there towards the middle of the green. And he has one last opportunity here to make birdie from 15 feet. Well, isn't this the way it always works, Kira? This strange game that we play just couldn't make anything and of course that one goes in and the reaction says it all. The reaction seems like a big celebration. Lots of relief to finish at one under after a bogey-free 70 for Rory McIlroy as we take a look at all of those pars. And he was able to finally break the street with the birdie on the last for him to turn in a one under 70. And after his round, he spoke with the media. You didn't want the full Feldo? I didn't. Yeah, I was thinking more, like I knew that I made so many pars, but I was thinking, I kind of remember the last time I played a round of golf and didn't have a birdie. I think I was more like, just try to make one. And I knew, I felt like I didn't make birdie at seven, didn't make birdie at eight. So then I thought my chance had passed me by, but nice to see one putt go in there at the last. What did the delay do, if anything, to you today? Not too much. I mean, it was fine. Yeah, it was okay. Spent a little bit extra time at the house, but I try to get to the course pretty early anyway. So it was just more because of so much rainfall last night and this morning, the golf course played a lot different than it's played the last couple of days. So just a little bit of an adjustment. Did it play any different than you were expecting? I know coming into Tuesday, at least you were kind of expecting the greens to be a bit different and all these things. Yeah. I mean, I think the rain actually helped the greens, you know, they're a little more receptive, but I think they were rolling a little bit better as well. So I think it helped the greens, but yeah, everywhere else it's, you know, the fairways are pretty wet and golf course is playing very, very long. So, which should play into my hands. You know, I felt like I hit the ball well and had enough good shots to be a little better than what I was, but you know, I've got three more days to try to catch up to everyone. Can you go through the second shot on your last, at least on TV, it looked a little daunting. It was, you know, when I was up there, 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. And yeah, it actually, it was, it was fine. I, it was a bit of a fly or lie. So I get, I hit nine iron. So, but I think I had like 190 something, but I just had a really hard nine iron and I had to get it, you know, I had to get it up over a tree on the third hole as well. But I've, you know, I've always been pretty comfortable trying to, you know, launch it high and get it up there. So it wasn't, it wasn't as, probably wasn't as difficult as, as what it looked on TV. How frustrated were you with your putting? And is it something that's easily fixable? I wasn't frustrated. I was hitting good putts, you know, some days they just don't want to go in. So, but no, I wasn't, I was just trying to stay patient because it felt like I was hitting good putts. I, I over at a couple on the, on the, on the front side. And then I under at a couple of, you know, as a reaction to the over reads and I was just sort of trying to, it was more of a read thing that, that, you know, I, I, I was starting the ball on my line and hitting good putts. I just, I just needed to figure out the reads a little bit better, but sort of felt like I got into it by the end of the round. How did the celebration and the birdie compared to all your other celebrations you've had lately? Not quite. It was just more, just nice to see one go in at the end, something to build off. Did you plan it? Did you know, Hey, if I'm going to sink this? I don't want to be that presumptuous.