Masters champion Rory McIlroy thrills Philly crowd with booming drives at Truist Championship

Philadelphia sports fans like nothing more than a winner, and right now there is no grander winner in the game of golf than Rory McIlroy.

The Masters champion drew the largest crowds and loudest roars Thursday during the first round of the Truist Championship, and he didn’t disappoint with an opening 4-under 66 that featured six birdies and booming drives.

McIlroy said Wednesday that he would attack the Philadelphia Cricket Club with his driver because the relatively short Wissahickon Course didn’t offer much resistance off the tee. He stayed true to his word, and found peril only occasionally when he didn’t find the short grass.

“I think it worked out fine. I drove the ball pretty well,” said McIlroy, who hit only 7 of 14 fairways. “I missed it in a couple of spots but was sort of able to get away with it. The mistakes I made mostly were from around the greens, the three-putt on 12 and then making 6 at 15.

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“Apart from that, I played pretty good. I felt like I was a little rusty out there, just hadn’t played in a week and I hadn’t really done a ton of practice, especially like on and around the greens. I certainly can tidy a few things up, but overall a decent day.”

McIlroy didn’t go as low as some of his competitors on the par-70, 7,119-yard course. Keith Mitchell led the field with a course-record 9-under 61, followed by Denny McCarthy’s 8-under 62 and a group of four at 7-under 63 in Rickie Fowler, Collin Morikawa, Akshay Bhatia, and Sepp Straka.

But that didn’t matter to the throng that followed the Northern Irishman’s group, which also featured recent RBC Heritage winner Justin Thomas and Tommy Fleetwood — perhaps the most popular non-winner on the PGA Tour.

Thomas and Fleetwood had their vocal supporters, but McIlroy must have heard a thousand “Rorys” as he walked his first solo 18 since completing golf’s Grand Slam in Augusta, Ga., nearly a month ago.

“It was amazing. It was really nice. We got a really nice crowd out there,” McIlroy said. “No, look, it’s been an amazing few weeks, and nice to come somewhere and people are excited for you and doing stuff like that. It’s really nice.”

McIlroy got off to a hot start, birdieing three of his first six holes. He launched a 373-yard drive on the 381-yard, par-4 No. 2 that rolled into the left rough in front of the green, chipped to within 16 feet, and made the putt.

He tugged his second shot into the left greenside bunker at the par-5 fifth, but got up and down to move to 2-under. On No. 6, McIlroy blasted a 358-yard drive and needed only a three-quarter sand wedge from 91 yards out on his approach. He dropped a dart three feet from the hole and made birdie.

McIlroy walked in a birdie at 10 to move to 4-under, but he found trouble off No. 11, normally the final hole for Cricket members. He hit a three wood to stay short of the creek that gives the course its name, but landed short of the steep hill that rewards straight drives. An awkward stance forced him to play safe to the middle of the green, but he three-putted for bogey.

» READ MORE: The Truist Championship has no Philly locals. But two golfers wear a Cricket member’s name on their sleeve.

After an 18-foot birdie at the short par-3 14th, McIlroy bogeyed the par-5 15th after a greenside flop shot came up short. He made a terrific sand save par on the par-3 16th, birdied the long, uphill par-4 17th, and two-putted 18 for par that left him tied for 25th in the 72-man field.

Thomas was right there at 4-under and could have scored better. He went out with a 31 on the front nine, but just couldn’t get putts to fall despite hitting 16 of 18 greens in regulation. Fleetwood was inconsistent early, but he found a groove after the turn and finished at 2-under.

McIlroy ranked first in driving at 347.6 yards and made 107.2 inches of putts, fifth-best in the field. But he had a few loose irons on his approaches. Aside from partnering with friend Shane Lowry in the two-man Zurich Classic two weeks ago, McIlroy hadn’t played since his historic Masters victory.

He’s the defending Truist champion and has won the tournament four times, but with next week’s PGA Championship — the next major of the year — he put this week in perspective.

“I don’t want to diminish this tournament and this championship, but to me, with everything that’s happened over the past couple of weeks, this was always going to be a great prep week for me to see where my game was and sort of refine a few things,” McIlroy said.

“I still want to play well, and I still want to have a chance to win the tournament, but I’ll have a much better gauge of where my game is going into next week after these four days than I would have had if I hadn’t played or if I just spent the week at home practicing.”

The PGA is being held at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, N.C., normally the site of the Truist (formally the Wells Fargo). McIlroy has won there twice. He should enter as the favorite, unless it’s No. 1-in-the-world Scottie Scheffler.

Now that he’s gotten the trifecta Masters, grand slam, and 11-year majors drought monkeys off his back, some believe the 36-year old could go on a major run similar to early in his career. But first there’s the Truist, a Signature Event on the tour.

McIlroy may be peeking ahead to the next major, but the fans here would love to see him win before their eyes.

“I think any time we do come to Philly, it’s a great sports town obviously, and people do get behind obviously their teams, but also the events that are brought here,” McIlroy said. “I feel like any time that I have played around here, whether it be Merion or Aronimink or here, the energy has always been great.”