Rory McIlroy joined a little bit of historical past at The PLAYERS Championship Thursday, carding a record-tying 10 birdies throughout a 7-under 65 spherical.
That locations McIlroy right into a tie atop the leaderboard with Xander Schauffele.
After a disastrous closing spherical on the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Northern Irishman spent the previous few days engaged on his sport.
“It’s in all probability been one in every of my greatest days shortly, which is good,” McIlroy mentioned.
These 10 birdies tie the document for a single spherical at The PLAYERS. It’s additionally probably the most McIlroy has made in 641 days, courting again to the ultimate spherical of the 2022 Canadian Open, per the Athletic’s Justin Ray.
Solely 4 different gamers have made 10 birdies in a spherical, with the newest being held by Justin Thomas when he received right here in 2021.
Rory McIlroy: 10 birdies, tying @THEPLAYERS document for a single spherical and his most in a PGA Tour spherical in 641 days (closing spherical of 2022 Canadian Open).
McIlroy gained properly over 3 strokes along with his strategy play immediately – a stark distinction from his early season struggles.
— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) March 14, 2024
Placing has been one in every of his weak spots just lately, however he leads the sphere to date after choosing up 3.593 strokes on the greens.
His strategy sport was additionally a lot improved, which is one other factor he has prioritized. The 2019 PLAYERS champion picked up 3.778 strokes in his strategy sport— the second-best within the discipline.
He started his day on the again 9 with three straight birdies. The four-time main winner added three extra birdies to his scorecard within the subsequent 5 holes earlier than he dropped a shot on the 18th.
McIlroy obtained again to 6-under on the par-5 2nd after making a tap-in birdie. His eighth circle on the scorecard got here on the 4th, with one other to observe at six.
He dropped a shot on seven, the place he recorded a double-bogey. That gap included a prolonged dialogue between him, Jordan Spieth and Viktor Hovland, on the place he ought to drop after hitting the ball into the water off the tee.
McIlroy returned to 7-under on the ninth when he made that historic tenth birdie from 17 ft.
“It was disappointing to not get that up-and-down on 7, however that’s in all probability why I give it a little bit mini-fist pump on 9 to really feel like I obtained a kind of pictures again,” McIlroy mentioned.
McIlroy’s fist pump says all of it. He was thrilled along with his spherical regardless of hitting into the penalty twice. To make 10 birdies on TPC Sawgrass isn’t a simple feat.
“It might be good to shoot 62 and never have two within the water, I suppose,” McIlroy mentioned.
The previous couple of years have seen him battle on Day 1 of this occasion and put him in a gap. McIlroy received’t have to try this this week.
“It goes again to I didn’t have many expectations on the market immediately as a result of I used to be like, ‘Okay, feels good on the vary and feels good in observe, however let’s see how it’s if you’ve obtained a card in your hand,’” he mentioned. “There’s one thing to be mentioned for that, form of lessening the expectations and going on the market and seeing what occurs.”
McIlroy will look to construct off that 65 Friday as he tees off alongside Hovland and Spieth at 1:40 p.m. ET.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By. For extra golf protection, make sure to observe us @_PlayingThrough on all main social platforms. You too can observe her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.