NEWTOWN SQUARE, PENNSYLVANIA | Rory McIlroy took a seat inside the small interview area in a parking lot behind the Aronimink clubhouse Thursday afternoon, having just signed for a disheartening 74 in the first round of the PGA Championship.
McIlroy, who would have been excused had he declined the invitation, wore a blank expression and had the understandable demeanor of a man who wanted to be somewhere else when the moderator started the proceedings with a simple question:
“How would you describe your round?”
McIlroy responded with a one-word answer that rhymes with spit.
Five bogeys in his final six holes, including a four-hole ride on the bogey train to finish 4-over can put a man off his late lunch, no matter how fresh the joy of winning a second consecutive Masters might still be.
Major championships only come around four times a year and they demand balancing expectations against the inevitable frustrations. The challenge is amplified at Aronimink, which showed significantly more bite Thursday than many expected, due in part to the breezy, cool conditions that made it feel like a football Saturday in late October.
While McIlroy lamented his inability to find fairways – a problem that has shadowed him through spells this season – Brooks Koepka was annoyed by another lousy day on the greens, Jordan Spieth was bothered by a leaky finish, Jon Rahm was chagrined by face-painting a volunteer with a grassy divot after taking an angry swipe in the rough and Bryson DeChambeau was left to sort privately through the damage done by his opening-round 76.
The first day of major championships are often owned by the Stephan Jaegers and Max Greysermans of the golf world. In the same way Kristoffer Reitan won against a stacked field at the Truist Championship last week, the Wanamaker Trophy may be hoisted by one of the game’s working class Sunday afternoon, just as Shaun Micheel and Rich Beem have done.
“People thought it would be lower? Have you been out there? Have you seen the golf course?” – Jon Rahm
The pre-tournament suggestions that Aronimink’s wide open spaces would lead to a bombs away approach proved misguided, at least for one day. It’s a track that shows its strength in the slopes and shapes of its putting surfaces and with fairways that tend to roll away from the middle, effectively narrowing the preferred landing areas and bringing the dense fescue along the edges into play.
After shooting 1-under-par 69 in the gusty, chilly conditions, Rahm was asked if he was surprised the scores were not lower on the first day.
“People thought it would be lower?” Rahm asked his questioner.
“Have you been out there? Have you seen the golf course?”
As for accidentally spraying a volunteer with fescue in a fit of temper, Rahm was not proud of himself.
“I couldn’t feel any worse. That’s why I was there apologizing,” he said.
“I need to somehow track him down to give him a present because that’s inexcusable and for something that could be completely avoidable. Whether it was my intention or not, it was just not good.”
There is a tendency for anyone who watches the best on a regular basis to assume they are capable of miracles, and sometimes they are. But Aronimink on Thursday restored the value of a well-played shot and not just because two of the par-3s had players pulling headcovers off clubs to hit their tee shots.
Xander Schauffele birdied three of his first four holes but never felt like he was playing with house money coming in with a 2-under 68.
“The fairways are generous in width, but the firmer they get, the more they’re going to roll off into areas,” Schauffele said. “So a 35- or 40-yard wide fairway is going to start to feel like a 10-yard wide fairway, and there is no first cut either. Your ball is rolling into something that’s on the muffier side of things.
“I think really, really thick rough and wind and really difficult greens and tucked pin locations is why you’re seeing what you may feel like are higher scores.”
“Every round just seems to be the worst I can shoot. Putter is absolutely horrendous. Ball striking is absolutely phenomenal.” – Brooks Koepka
Having made five birdies Thursday, Schauffele was asked which single shot deserved highlight coverage on television. He couldn’t think of one.
“ESPN would never show this, but internally I hit it over the green on 8, and I was leaking some oil, and I was able to lag that to two feet up and over and around and down with a cross-wind. So in my mind, that was a really big moment for me,” Schauffele said.
Koepka, who has gracefully settled back into life on the PGA Tour, thought about putting also, but in a different way than Schauffele.
“Every round just seems to be the worst I can shoot. Putter is absolutely horrendous. Ball striking is absolutely phenomenal,” said Koepka, who opened with a 1-under 69.
Then there was the case of Garrick Higgo, who was effectively 2-over par before hitting his opening tee shot because he was dinged two strokes for being late for his 7:18 a.m. tee time.
Higgo understood that his tee time wasn’t 7:18-ish and he was informed of the penalty when he was handed his scorecard on the first tee. It made his opening round 69 more impressive.
“It wasn’t a surprise. I was late. I mean, my caddie was yelling at me to get to the tee,” Higgo said.
“I knew it was probably going to happen.”
It was that kind of Thursday at the PGA.