Rory McIlroy has the foot on the accelerator these days, and the world number two got off to a fast start with an opening 62, eight-under-par, in the Travelers Championship at TPC Highland in Cromwell, Connecticut to claim a tie for the lead in what will be his last tour outing ahead of next month’s 150th Open.
Although a little under the weather, with a sore throat and stuffed nose, McIlroy – playing for the fourth straight week, during which time he retained the Canadian Open and finished tied-fifth in the US Open – finished strongly with three birdies in his closing four holes, including a monster 50-footer on the seventh, his 16th of the round, to move to the top of the leaderboard.
“I’m just concentrating and focusing on what I need to do,” said McIlroy, who admitted to feeling fatigue after his long stretch of tournaments. “Thankfully, in a round of golf, you only need to concentrate for about 10 minutes in that five hours that we play. It shouldn’t be too much of a struggle. I feel like I’m doing a good job of switching on and switching off.”
In contrast to the grind that is part and parcel of a US Open setup, McIlroy was allowed to fire at flags and play aggressively with a different mindset that yielded eight birdies in a bogey-free round that saw him come home in 30 strokes for his 62 that gave him a tie for the lead with American JT Poston, one stroke ahead of Xander Schauffele and Martin Laird.
“It’s nice, it’s like the anti-US Open here. It’s like US Open rehab. You’re like, ‘oh, I can actually make some birdies’. This is nice. I like coming here the week after the US Open. It sort of gives you an opportunity to shoot low scores and get after it, and that’s nice. I like that.”
Ireland’s Séamus Power is five shots back of the lead after a solid three-under-par 67 to lie tied-15th.
On the DP World Tour, China’s Haotong Ling shot a course record 62 to claim the first round lead in the BMW International in Munich, while on the Challenge Tour Derryman Ruaidhri McGee – who took a two-year break from competitive golf during Covid – shot a superb 61 to take a three-shot lead after the first round of the Open de Bretagne.
In the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Congresssional Golf Club, South Korea’s In Gee Chun opened with a course record eight-under-par 64 in the first round to establish a five-stroke lead over Pornanong Phatlum and Hye-Jin Choi. Jennifer Chang and Paula Reto of South Africa are tied for fourth at two under.
“I’m trying to make the focus on the course for the process, not the result,” Chun said. “I’m trying to enjoy to play golf more on the course, more talk with my caddie. I’m happy with the good round today.”
Stephanie Meadow was right in contention as she approached her closing holes, standing at two-under on her round through 14 holes but suffered a bogey (on six) and double bogey (on eight, her penultimate hole) to slip down the leaderboard in signing for a one-over-par 73 which nevertheless put her in a strong position to make the cut.
Leona Maguire, runner-up to Jennifer Kupcho in last week’s Meijer Classic, who also started on the 10th, finished with a disappointing two-over-par 74 which failed to produce a birdie.
