McIlroy Unable to Match Walker Pace

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Rory McIlroy lies nine shots off the clubhouse lead after carding a four-over 74 in the first round of the US PGA Championship at Baltusrol.

The Northern Irishman started the final major of 2016 at the 10th hole and had three bogeys in his opening seven holes and no birdies during his round.

Jimmy Walker set the early pace with a five-under 65, while defending champion Jason Day shot 70.

Masters champion Danny Willett is among the late starters in New Jersey.

The Englishman is playing, in line with PGA tradition, with the two other major winners of this year, American Dustin Johnson, who won the US Open, and Open champion Henrik Stenson of Sweden.

McIlroy, the world number four, said before his opening round that the Baltusrol layout gave him a good chance of securing a third US PGA Championship, after winning the title in 2012 and 2014.

Playing alongside Australian Day and American Phil Mickelson, who pushed Stenson close at The Open earlier this month, McIlroy missed two birdie putts in his first two holes.

A duffed chip and miss from six feet led to his first bogey on the 13th and he dropped shots on the 14th and 16th after hitting his ball into greenside bunkers on both holes.

McIlroy missed a five-foot chance for birdie on the par-five 17th and a wild drive on the 18th, the only other par-five hole on the course, led to a par.

Day, who had only one practice round after catching a bug off his son and then spending Tuesday night in hospital after his wife suffered an allergic reaction, had three birdies and a bogey in his two-under round.

Mickelson, who briefly joined McIlroy at four over, battled back to one over with three birdies in five holes.

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McIlroy Happy With Comeback

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Rory McIlroy was pleased with his comeback at the US PGA Championship despite not being able to defend his title at Whistling Straits.

Coming into the tournament, the 26 year old had not played a competitive round since a closing 66 at the US Open Championship at Chambers Bay after suffering ankle ligament damage whilst playing football with friends in early July.

But he finished 17th in Wisconsin after rounds of 71-71-68-69 and is confident he will be back to his best soon.

"I feel like I did well," he said "Obviously coming back after the lay-off, not hitting a competitive shot in two months, shooting nine under was a decent effort.

"I didn't see 19 under winning this week. I thought something between ten and 15 but it just shows you how high the standard is these days.

"But first week, coming back, I thought I did pretty well."

He added: "The ankle is fine. We came up with a plan that after this week I could take a couple of weeks off just in case anything did happen or there were any setbacks.

"It feels fine, but I'm just going to take a couple of weeks off and not need a strap or anything to play. And then after that I've got another week off, so by the time I'm in the middle of September, there will be no issues and hopefully I can give it a good run in the FedEx Cup.

"I felt like I gave it a good run this week and the ankle is in good shape.

"Overnight the ankle did swell a bit, but once I got it moving and compressed it a bit, it was fine. It probably won't look like a normal ankle for two or three months, but there is no pain in it, which is the main thing."

The Northern Irishman began his round on Sunday with five pars but made a sensational up and down from the rough to make birdie on the sixth and followed that with another on the seventh.

Another gain was made on the tenth and, despite dropping a shot on the 13th, McIlroy picked up another on the 16th and feels his game will come back together as he plays more often.

"I just need to sharpen up," he said. "I feel like ball striking-wise, tee to green, it's there. And it's sort of been there all year. If anything, just around the greens (I've got to be) being more efficient, really. When I give myself opportunities inside, wedges in my hand, I've got to take advantage of those.

"And today is a prime example, it's my fourth day of competitive playing, getting those two balls up and down on 17 and 18, that's something just playing a bit more and just having experience with certain shots and certain lies.

"That all just comes with playing a bit more."

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Can Rory Break Records

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Rory McIlroy requires a record nine-shot recovery to win the 97th edition at Whistling Straits and overcome Jason Day heading who leads into the final day.

5. Bob Tway

Greg Norman held the lead going into the final round of every major championship in 1986, and the PGA Championship at the Inverness Club was no exception.

But the Australian was usurped in Ohio by Bob Tway, who overturned a four-stroke deficit to clinch his only major title, before later being named PGA Player of the Year.

Tway's comeback began with Norman's double-bogey at the 11th, and ended by holing from a bunker at the last to win by two shots.

4. Keegan Bradley

Despite trailing by just a single stroke at the start of the final round, Bradley found himself five shots off the lead with three holes remaining.

A gain at 16 followed by a 35-foot birdie on the 17th, coupled with three consecutive bogeys by Jason Dufner, forced a play-off between the Americans at the Atlanta Athletic Club in 2011.

Bradley wasted no time in the three-hole showdown, triumphing by one-shot after a birdie at the first. "I can't believe it, I feel so proud," the 25-year-old said afterwards - and rightly so.

3. Bob Rosburg

Bob Rosburg trailed Jerry Barber by six shots going into the final round at the Minneapolis Golf Club in 1959.

Despite Rosburg carding the best round of the final day with 66, Barber still looked in control with three holes to play.

Three pars would have been enough for Barber, but two bogeys meant he ended the tournament one stroke behind Rosburg.

2. Steve Elkington

Ernie Els set a three-day record at the PGA Championship in 1995 with 197, but was unable to prevent Steve Elkington from lifting the Wanamaker Trophy on the final day.

Elkington fired a final-day 64, which remains the greatest closing round by a PGA champion to date, and he was joined in a play-off by Colin Montgomerie when the Scot holed an 18-foot birdie at the last.

As if Elkington's 64 wasn’t enough, he buried a 25-foot putt for birdie on the first extra hole for victory.

1. John Mahaffey

Mahaffey's seven-shot comeback in 1978 remains the greatest in the history of the PGA Championship.

Tom Watson offered a helping hand, struggling to a final-round 73, while Mahaffey ripped through the course with a stunning 66.

A four-foot miss by Jerry Pate at the last forced a play-off, which Mahaffey won with a birdie on the second to avenge his 18-hole play-off defeat at The Open three years earlier.

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Rory Retains Whistling Chance

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Rory McIlroy was frustrated at being unable to build on a "dream start" to his third round at the 97th PGA Championship, as his lengthy injury lay-off caught up with him at Whistling Straits.

The defending champion was nine shots off the lead at the halfway stage following a pair of erratic 71s, but he made early strides up the leaderboard when he birdied the second and fourth and then holed a monster 65-foot putt for eagle at the fifth.

But a poor wedge cost him a shot at the next, and he also bogeyed the eighth before mixing four birdies with two further shots on the inward half to post a 68 - six under for the tournament.

McIlroy will have to break the tournament comeback record if he is to retain his title on Sunday, and he admitted his lack of competitive golf while recovering from ankle ligament damage over the last seven weeks had hampered his chances.

"I got off to a dream start, really," said McIlroy, who had not played since the US Open in June after suffering his ankle injury playing football with friends on July 4. "To be four under through five, having not birdied the first and third, was a bonus.

"I knew six was a chance and the way the wind was on seven and eight, they weren't playing as tough as they had been earlier in the week. If you get a good tee shot down on nine, you've got a wedge in your hand there and all of a sudden you're thinking about shooting 30 on the front nine and then you've got some chances on the back nine.

"But to give those shots away again on six and eight, you really have to battle to shoot four under in the end. I guess that probably shows just a lack of competitiveness considering this is the first week back in a few weeks.

"But really positive signs out there. Hitting the ball great. I putted much better today thankfully. So if I keep showing improvement each and every day like I have done, it's a good sign going into the rest of the season."

The 26-year-old conceded that his chances of lifting the Wanamaker Trophy for the third time were remote, but he is refusing to hand over his title without a fight.

"It's all about setting a realistic goal and target," McIlroy added. "I know that the way the back nine's playing there, the leaders could be 14, 15 under by the time the day ends. So, that would leave me eight or nine shots back.

"In the back of your mind, you still think you have a chance, because that's what your competitive nature tells you. But if you're looking at it realistically, I want to go out there tomorrow and shoot the best score that I've shot this week.

"I've stood still a little on Thursday and Friday, but definitely improved today and you want to improve on that again tomorrow. If I do that, I think that, as a whole, the week would be somewhat of a success. It wouldn't be quite what I wanted, but as I said, I can take positives from it and move on."

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Rory Furious on Friday

Rory McIlroy reflected on a day of missed opportunities after settling for a second consecutive 71 at the 97th PGA Championship, while Jordan Spieth went four shots better at the halfway stage.

The defending champion was determined to take advantage of the benign early conditions at Whistling Straits and make strides up the leaderboard, but he managed only pars at his first six holes before finally getting a birdie putt to drop at the 16th.

McIlroy was then furious with himself for scrapping his way to a double-bogey six at the 18th, but he got both shots back with one shot at the long second as he chipped in for a galvanising eagle.

He holed from eight feet for birdie at the sixth, but he bogeyed the next after pulling his tee shot in greenside rough before McIlroy parred in to remain two under for the tournament.

On a day when Japan's Hiroshi Iwata equalled the lowest score in major history with a 63 and playing partner Jordan Spieth shot 67, McIlroy admitted his short-game was not up to scratch following his seven-week lay-off with an ankle injury.

"I felt like tee to green I hit the ball pretty well, I'm probably just not as sharp with the short game as I would like to be," the world No 1 said. "It was good to get the two shots back that I dropped on 18 and I gave myself good chances on the third and fifth, but did not take them.

"There's plenty of chances out there and if I can convert a few hopefully there is a low score in me.

"I felt like I played better than what the score reflected, so I'm a little bit annoyed. I felt like I should have got that ball up and down on seven and then I had a great chance on eight for birdie and didn't take that. A couple of days in a row where I haven't finished the round of golf the way I wanted to.

"I don't know if it's rust or I just didn't putt well, so maybe just work on that a little bit before I tee off tomorrow and it would be great to hole a few more putts, because I feel like I'm giving myself plenty of chances.

"Probably one of the most surprising things about yesterday is how quickly I got back into the mindset of tournament golf and being aggressive. That hasn't really been an issue, it's just being a bit more efficient, whenever you give yourself chances, take them, and be able to get it up and down when you put yourself out of position."

McIlroy now has his work cut out to hang onto his world No 1 ranking ahead of Spieth, who enjoyed a run of four birdies in six holes mid-round as he moved smoothly to six under for the tournament.

The highlight of Spieth's round was a superb bunker escape that found the hole for an unlikely birdie at the 18th, and he was delighted with another good day's work in his bid to become only the third player in history to win three majors in a year.

"We are freerolling now," Spieth joked after making the cut in the tournament for the first time at the third attempt. "I'm just happy to be back in contention and position. If I'd had a bit of a lull today it would have been too hard to make up.

"With a couple of chip-ins for the week and really smart course management and good speed control, we have been able to hold ourselves in there. But in order to keep shooting the rounds like today, I'm going to need to drive the ball a little bit better and make a few more putts, which are really the two keys for me this weekend, because it's just going to get more challenging with pin locations and firmness of greens."

On his holed bunker shot for birdie at 18, Spieth's 16th chip-in of the season, he added: "It's arguably the best of the year given the position it was in. It was a great spark to get things going, get a little confidence, a little pep in my step.

"I feel good. I've got a chance to win a major championship. Just thinking about that gets you enough adrenaline that there won't be any issues. I noticed last year for the first time I felt fatigue and felt like I had overworked and kind of burned out the end of the year, as we had to go through the four play-off events without a break and then into the Ryder Cup.

"This year I've done a better job of when I take time off, when you limit the practice coming back, how to prepare. As far as mentally in this position, the way the year's gone, I approach each event as if it's the only event of the year when I stand on the first tee. That gets me through it.

"I'm sure at the end of this year, it will be nice to sit back and hang the clubs up for a couple weeks, but until then we have got a lot to play for."

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Rory Recovers After Wet Start

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Rory McIlroy overcame a nervy start to open the defence of his PGA Championship title with an encouraging one-under 71 at Whistling Straits.

In his first competitive round since the US Open, the world No 1 hit back from a three-putt bogey at the first with a birdie at the next and missed good chances at three and four before producing a stunning par-save from shallow water at the fifth hole.

McIlroy pulled a seven-iron left of the green with his third to the par-five, but he rolled up his right trouser leg, splashed out to 12 feet and calmly knocked in the putt to stay at level par.

He couldn't avoid a bogey after missing the fairway at the eighth, but he responded with a pure approach to four feet to set up a birdie at nine and a huge drive and an eight-iron into the long 11th yielded a comfortable two-putt for birdie.

McIlroy failed to convert mid-range birdie putts on each of the next four greens, but he got one to drop after pitching to six feet at the 16th before he was berating himself for pushing his approach to the last into thick rough, from where he played a poor chip and two-putted for bogey.

But he reflected on a good day's work in tough, blustery conditions, and he had no concerns with his left ankle after completing his recovery from the ligament damage he suffered during a friendly game of football with his friends just before the Scottish Open early last month.

And he was delighted with his highlight of the day at the fifth, where his main worry was getting his feet wet.

"The only thing I was trying not to do was get my feet wet, because if the water gets through this shoe, then the tape [on his left ankle] gets wet and then that would be annoying or uncomfortable for the rest of the day," McIlroy said.

"It was a little bit deeper on the right side, so I just rolled my right trouser leg up and it was fine. I just had to remember to hit it hard. And I was very fortunate to escape with a par there.

"I think anything under par this afternoon was a decent score. I thought trying to shoot something under 70 was realistic. I sort of had a chance to do that after birdieing the 16th. I missed a good chance there on 17. Unfortunate bogey on the last, I guess. Just hit a 3-iron and held it up a little bit too much into the wind and leaked it right."

McIlroy's 71 was matched by playing partner and rival for the world No 1 spot Jordan Spieth, the Masters and US Open champion looking to become only the third player after Ben Hogan and Tiger Woods to win three majors in a year.

Spieth followed 10 straight pars with a three-putt bogey on the 11th, but chipped in on the next and also birdied the 16th.

"We really battled back after 10 and 11, which were disappointing holes for me, to salvage an under par round and really stay in this tournament," the 22-year-old said. "If I didn't get that good break on 12, it could have been a different story the rest of the round."

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Rory Has Strait Chance - McGinley

Paul McGinley expects four-time major champion Rory McIlroy to be firmly in contention for this week's 97th PGA Championship.

McIlroy will return to play his first tournament since rupturing an ankle ligament six weeks ago, but McGinley has backed the 26-year-old's decision to compete at Whistling Straits.

"I think he can contend no doubt," said McGinley.

"He's the world number-one player, he's confident, he's had a good few weeks practice, his game is in good shape, and the golf course suits him.

"He's proven in the past that coming back form a big lay-off doesn't really affect him, he can come back and hit the ground running. But coming back from a serious injury, it will be interesting to see how it all unfolds for him.

"Steve McGregor [McIlroy's fitness trainer] has done a great job on him. He's very highly respected within the game and within this industry knowing exactly what fitness is about.

"He couldn't have been in better hands in terms of this rehab with Steve. I'd say he's in good shape but is he going to be competitively sharp? That's going to be the question."

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McIlroy Gets The Shanks

Rory McIlroy will attempt to become just the second player in the modern era to successfully defend the US PGA Championship this week, but will do so armed with a healthy new perspective.

McIlroy feared he had broken his ankle while playing football with his friends on July 4, but a ruptured ligament was serious enough to prevent him defending the Open Championship at St Andrews and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron.

The 26-year-old thought he would be unable to bring himself to watch his rivals do battle for the Claret Jug, with Jordan Spieth narrowly failing to win the third leg of an unprecedented calendar grand slam before Zach Johnson eventually triumphed in a play-off.

However, McIlroy was surprised by his reaction to events at the Old Course as he battled to get fit enough to return to competition at Whistling Straits, where he finished a shot outside the play-off in 2010.

"I honestly thought it was going to be harder than it was. I thought I was going to miss it more than I did," said McIlroy, who will play alongside Spieth and Johnson in the first two rounds.

"But if anything, having to sit those tournaments out, especially the Open Championship going back to St Andrews, which is probably my favourite venue in the world, it gave me a huge sense of perspective.

"When you're playing week in, week out and you're thinking about winning these tournaments, you get so wrapped up in what you're doing and your own little life and your own little bubble; sometimes you forget there's a bigger, wider world out there.

"No matter whether you win a golf tournament or not, people are going to get up on Monday morning and go to work and do their daily things and honestly not a lot of people care.

"Obviously it means a lot to you and people involved in golf, but in the big scheme of things, it's not life or death.

"And that's something that I can bring in with me this week, knowing that, okay, it's a big deal, but no matter what happens this week, only a very small percentage of the population really care."

McIlroy insisted he would not give up playing football and revealed he was taking two-hour walks within two weeks of the injury occurring in his "fourth or fifth game in a 10-day period", but admitted he would need to take precautionary measures for the rest of his career.

"I thought I broke it because as soon as I went over on it I heard like a snap," the four-time major winner added.

"Obviously that was the ligament that snapped. I looked down and 30 seconds later it got the size of a tennis ball, basically because all the fluid came out of the joint capsule.

"When I got the scan that night it showed that I totally ruptured one ligament and I had a grade two (tear) in the other. If that had been a total rupture then that would have required surgery.

"It was always going to be a six-eight week injury. Then it just depends on the individual. As injuries go, it could have been worse.

"The ligament that I ruptured, I don't have that any more. So I've only got two ligaments on the outside of my ankle instead of three. It's just about trying to strengthen the ankle and maintain as much integrity in it as possible. But it's really not anything to be concerned about in the long term."

Since the US PGA became a stroke play event in 1958, only Tiger Woods in 1999-2000 and 2006-2007 has won back-to-back titles.

But McIlroy will aim to convert his superb tournament record - since 2009 he is a collective 34 under par, 17 shots better than anyone else - into a third title in four years following wins at Kiawah Island in 2012 and Valhalla last year.

"I think more than anything else the golf courses that we have played in this tournament have been set up in such a way that it suits my type of game and it really rewards good driving," McIlroy added.

"I think it's usually a fair test of golf, somewhere within 10 to 15 under par usually wins. It's not like it prevents the guys from making birdies, but it still penalises you if you don't hit good shots.

"My expectation levels are the same. I've been practising for over three weeks, getting my game ready, getting my game sharp. I feel like I'm playing well. I don't see any reason why I can't bring the sort of form that I've shown in practice rounds and on the range to the tee on Thursday afternoon."

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