PGA Championship 2026: Rory McIlroy only needed one NSFW word to describe odd round that included a bad career-first
Let's just say it was a tough finish for the reigning Masters champ at Aronimink.
Rory McIlroy's chances of pulling off the calendar Grand Slam took a major hit on Thursday. The reigning Masters champ opened the PGA Championship with a four-over-par 74 that left him seven shots back of the early lead. Needless to say, the 37-year-old wasn't pleased with the result.
RELATED: The latest updates from the 2026 PGA Championship When asked to describe his round after, McIlroy offered only one, colorful word. "Sh--," McIlroy said. McIlroy was then asked to elaborate.
"I started missing fairways. I missed the fairway right on 4, the fairway right on 6, the fairway right on 7, fairway right on 9. From there, it's hard—you know, I didn't have great angles either.
Then obviously you start missing it just off the edges of these greens, it gets tricky," McIlroy said. "Yeah, I felt like I did okay. I made that birdie on 5 to get back to even-par after the soft bogey on 4, then I just got on that bogey train at the end.