Rory McIlroy began the 2026 PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club with a rocky first round, shooting a 74 (+4) that left him tied for 105th place. He started the day with four consecutive bogeys, struggled off the tee by missing nine of 14 fairways, and closed the round with four straight bogeys. McIlroy himself described the round as "s---" and said the penalty for missing fairways was harsher than expected after playing the course recently [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].

Despite the poor start, McIlroy mounted a strong comeback. He posted a bogey-free 67 in the second round to regain lost ground and move up the leaderboard [1, 7, 5]. On May 16, during the third round, McIlroy shot a 66 (-4), including six birdies and two bogeys, under calmer course conditions with softer pin positions. That performance lifted him into a share of the clubhouse lead at 3-under par alongside Xander Schauffele, just two shots behind Matti Schmid and Nick Taylor, who top the leaderboard at 5-under [1, 7, 8, 9, 10, 5].

McIlroy started the first round from the 10th tee and noted his drive into the rough on that hole contributed to the difficult opening. He acknowledged the challenging conditions off the tee and said some of his lies were particularly poor, citing the 10th hole as "as bad as I've seen" [2, 3, 6]. Prior to the tournament, he had dealt with a blister on his toe but stated it did not affect his play [4, 6].

About his resurgence, McIlroy expressed pride in climbing back into contention after the bad start. "I had a really bad finish on Thursday, but at the end of the day, I was only seven back," he said. He recalled last year's Masters, when he was seven back after day one but went on to lead before the final round, adding, "There's a lot of golf, and a lot of things can happen during the course of a golf tournament. I've progressively just got a little bit closer to the lead each day" [5].

Defending champion Scottie Scheffler and other top players such as Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Maverick McNealy, and Alex Smalley remain in contention after the third round [1, 7, 8, 9, 10]. McIlroy's goal for the tournament is to become the fifth player since 1960 to win the first two majors of the year and complete a career grand slam [2].

The final round will take place Sunday, with McIlroy and others vying for the title amid changing conditions and pressure on the leaders.