A lot of golf still to be played
It was a slightly mixed opening round for Rory McIlroy as he made his return from injury at the final major of the season at Whistling Straits, though overall he’s bound to be pretty satisfied with how it ended up.
Dustin Johnson was one of the first out on the course and took advantage of the still weather conditions to storm into the clubhouse at the top of the leaderboard at six under.
By the time many of the favourites hit the course in the afternoon the win had picked up significantly meaning that Johnson was likely to stay there.
McIlroy had a difficult round at times but managed, and even went all Jean Van der Velde at one stage, but was nearly always able to dig himself out of trouble and finished on one-under, five shots off Johnson and level with Jordan Spieth.
Rory McIlroy hit it in the water at No. 5, which didn't stop him from hitting this shot. #QuickHits http://t.co/wrEKZW0391
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 13, 2015
Impressive, impressive round of golf today by Rory McIlroy.
— Shane Bacon (@shanebacon) August 13, 2015
Friday’s second round promises to be a different story for McIlroy who tees off at 8.05am local time, again alongside Jordan Spieth and Zach Johnson.
Dustin Johnson starts his second round at 1.20pm and with bad weather forecast for the afternoon it offers the chance for the early starters to gain some parity.
“Golfers teeing off later in the day may experience wet conditions and possible lightning delays,”AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Paul Walker said.
It makes for another exciting round.
Though possibly not for Shane Lowry who suffered on Thursday finishing on a six-over-par 78 and last week’s hero faces a battle just to make the cut.
Darren Clarke is also on six-over, while Padraig Harrington is on four over. Aside from McIlroy, Graeme McDowell is the next best-placed Irishman – he’s one-over-par.
Key tee-times for the second round
(starting hole in brackets – All times Irish)
(10) 13:25 Bernd Wiesberger (Aut), Shane Lowry (Irl), Webb Simpson (USA)
(10) 13:45 Graeme McDowell (Nirl), Patrick Reed (USA), Luke Donald (Eng)
(10) 14:05 Rory McIlroy (Nirl), Jordan Spieth (USA), Zach Johnson (USA)
(10) 14:15 Jason Dufner (USA), Phil Mickelson (USA), Padraig Harrington (Irl)
(1) 1320 Rickie Fowler (USA), Jason Day (Aus), Dustin Johnson (USA)
Full US PGA leaderboard available here
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