Truist Championship: Rory McIlroy prepares to get back into his groove in Philadelphia
The master is ready to rediscover his kind of normal. 'I'm just glad that it's done. I don't want to ever have to go back to that Sunday afternoon again. I'm glad that I finished the way I did, and we can all move on with our lives,' remarked Rory McIlroy in advance of his defence of the Truist Championship at Philadelphia Cricket Club, one of the PGA Tour's $20 million signature events.
McIlroy, who completed the career Grand Slam with that Masters win, has sought to move on again. Back to normal, as it were. And while that historic victory at Augusta provided a career highlight, so far, the Northern Irishman and world number two – who turned 36 last Sunday – has sought to get back into the groove, especially with next week's US PGA at Quail Hollow on the horizon.
Last week, McIlroy had his coach Michael Bannon fly over to Florida for a three-day practice from Monday to Wednesday before he flew to New York for television and business commitments. 'When I got back home [to Florida] and sort of got back more into my real routine Sunday, Monday, then coming up here [to Philadelphia], that period is behind me and I'm looking forward to the next few months.'
McIlroy, already a three-time winner on the PGA Tour this season (the Pebble Beach pro-am, the Players and the Masters) is defending the title he won at Quail Hollow last year but at a new tour stop on an old classic course designed by AW Tillinghast that was renovated just over a decade ago.
READ MORE
'It's very similar to a lot of these old-school courses that have been renovated over the past few years. A lot of trees have been taken out. The green complexes are, for me, the interesting thing about the golf course. It sort of feels to me like a smaller version of Oak Hill, not a lot of strategy off the tee because there's no real hazards. There's some fairway bunkers, but if you avoid those, the rough's not that long so it's not a huge penalty,' explained McIlroy, who is likely to use his driver as his power tool as the main part of his strategy.
'It's a little simple off the tee, I guess, is the best way to describe it, but making sure with the second shots that you're below the hole and trying to get to learn the greens a little bit more. Yeah, sort of a smaller, shorter version of Oak Hill is sort of how I see the course.'
Rory McIlroy and his caddie Harry Diamond celebrate with the trophy after winning the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Clifton, North Carolina in May 2024. Photograph: Jared'I think, when it was renovated, it probably would have held up to the distances that were being hit, but even now 10 years on, I feel like every par-4 out there is like 430, 440. They sort of feel like they're 40 or 50 yards [shorter] than what they need to be. Still, it's a cool track to play.
'I go back to Oak Hill a couple years ago at the PGA, and I tried to play the golf course strategically over the first couple of days, and I just realised that these new renovated old-school courses, like, the strategy is just hit driver everywhere and then figure it out from there. That's sort of the strategy of this place this week.'
McIlroy is a four-time winner of the tournament now known as the Truist Championship, which will act as his fine-tuner before chasing further Majors in the PGA back on familiar terrain at Quail Hollow next week, where he will head in – finally – without the need to answer questions about any Major drought.
[
Rory McIlroy returns to PGA Tour action after showbiz sweep as he prepares for US PGA Championship
Opens in new window
]
'I'm obviously going to feel more comfortable and a lot less pressure, and I'm also going back to a venue that I love. It's nothing but positive vibes going in there next week with what happened a few weeks ago and then with my history there and how well I've played at Quail.
'It probably will feel a little bit different. I probably won't be quite as on edge as I have been for the last few years when I've been at Major championships. I'll probably be a little bit better to be around for my family, and I'll be a little more relaxed. I think overall it will be a good thing,' he added.
McIlroy and Shane Lowry are the only two Irish players in the field in Philadelphia, while Séamus Power is playing in the Myrtle Beach Classic. Leona Maguire returns to action on the LPGA Tour after a one-week break, playing in the Mizuho Americas Open in Liberty National, New Jersey.
Truist Championship Lowdown
Purse:
$20 million (€17.6 million)/$3.6 million (€3.16 million) to the winner.
Where:
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
The course:
A historic, classic course – which underwent a restoration programme in 2013 to return it to its AW Tillinghast design roots, featuring run-offs around greens, distinctive contouring and dramatic bunkering systems – the Philadelphia Cricket Club (Wissahickon Course) is making its debut as a PGA Tour course, temporarily filling in for Quail Hollow (the traditional home of the Wells Fargo) which next week hosts the US PGA.
The renamed Truist Championship is sixth of the PGA Tour's signature events this season. Players will play one of the shortest courses on the schedule – 7,119 yards, par 70 – with a number of standout holes, including the par-3 14th, played from an elevated tee, and the par-5 15th, which includes a feature known as the 'Great Hazard', a section of long rough and cross bunkers across the fairway.
The field:
Scottie Scheffler, the world number one and runaway winner of the CJ Cup, is an absentee this week as he sticks to his plan for a week off in advance of the US PGA. But those ranked from two to 11 in the world rankings, most notably Masters champion Rory McIlroy, are playing. McIlroy is the defending champion (although the tournament has a new name – the Truist rather than the Wells Fargo – and a new venue). Jason Day's withdrawal earned Patrick Rodgers a late call-up. It is a 72 holes stroke-play tournament with no cut.
Weather:
Thunderstorms are anticipated both Thursday and Friday with expected disruptions to the first two rounds, although the forecast for the weekend is much better, with drier and sunnier conditions expected.
Irish in the field:
There are two Irish players – McIlroy and Shane Lowry – in the limited field, both having the same start times albeit in different threeballs: McIlroy is grouped with Justin Thomas and Tommy Fleetwood (off the 1st tee at 5.26pm Irish time), while Lowry is grouped with US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley and Justin Rose (off the 10th tee at 5.26pm Irish time).
Betting:
Rory McIlroy is the market leader at 4-1 as he seeks a fourth win on the PGA Tour in what is already proving to be a stellar campaign, while Collin Morikawa – with new caddie Joe Greiner – on his bag is rated 14-1 with Ludvig Aberg an 18-1 prospect. Justin Rose, though, is worth an each-way look at 60-1. Rose, beaten by McIlroy in a playoff at the Masters, won his only Major, the US Open, at Merion (also in Philadelphia and on a similar tight, classic layout).
On TV:
Live on Sky Sports Golf (from 7pm).
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
31 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
Raging McIlroy finds late magic to make cut as Oakmont leaves Lowry at low ebb
With the skies about to open above him, Rory McIlroy pulled himself out of the hellish challenge that has been Oakmont these past 48 hours and fired a heavenly closing birdie to make the cut on Friday night. Standing on the 18th tee at 7-over for the year's third major, the cutline moving up and down between +6 and +7, McIlroy knew only a birdie could guarantee his run of six-straight US Open cuts made. With playing partners Shane Lowry and Justin Rose having long since succumbed to the horrors of the Pittsburgh course, his was the only fate to be decided. After a post-Masters run that has defied expectations and, at times, belief, McIlroy found a little bit of vintage magic. How badly he needed it. American Sam Burns had set the pace with a morning 65 which got all the more impressive as Friday progressed in Western Pennsylvania. By nightfall Burns was the outright halfway leader at 3-under, one of just three of the 156 in the field to remain under par. Overnight leader JJ Spaun did his best to cling in there but otherwise those who began in the red felt the creep of the black. Big names joined Lowry and Rose in falling by the wayside too, defending champion Bryson DeChambeau and Ludvig Aberg among them. From start to finish there were crooked scores everywhere and the organisers even found time in the darkening hours for an absurd weather delay which meant a handful of misfortunates have to return on Saturday morning, when rough weather is expected to play a major factor throughout the third round. Friday at Oakmont featured plenty of Irish carnage as Lowry leaned into another expletive-laced reaction to major struggles then picked up an inexplicable penalty stroke while McIlroy tossed a club down the fairway on one hole and later smashed a tee marker for good measure. Birdie for the weekend 🐦@McIlroyRory converts to make it inside the projected cutline @ — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 13, 2025 However on his pivotal final hole of the round the Holywood man composed himself to find his best tee-to-cup performance since his third hole the previous day. A perfect drive set him up for his most sparkling wedge of the week finding the last fraction of a degree of undulation to bring the ball back to just four feet. He rolled in the birdie for a 2-over 72 that in the circumstances may be his best round since Augusta. That's probably an overstatement or a bias towards how he finished it. Because it started in spectacularly hideous fashion, a calamitous double bogey on the first added to with another on the third to push him to 8-over overall and well outside the cut line. From there it was slow progress, in terms of both moment and plain ol actual progress, the pace of play disgracefully slow. He birdied the 9th to turn in brighter form but gave one back on the 11th and laboured a little until another arrived at the 15th. Shane Lowry won't be hanging around and won't be eager to ever discuss his visit to Pittsburgh this time around. A 54-hole leader here in 2016, this was a sequel which proved to be a box office bomb. The Offaly man left with a two-round card that by his high standards looked nothing short of diabolical. He followed up his Thursday 79 with an 8-over 78 to leave the grounds with an ugly +17 to the right of his name on the leaderboard. Below him were just 16 players, a grouping which you wouldn't describe as a golfing who's who but a who's he? Where to start with Lowry's fiendish Friday? How about the fact that on the 14th green he bent to mark his ball and pick it up but forgot to do the first bit. The vision of the slow dawning of what he'd just done, as he stood with ball in hand and marker in pocket was a vision of what the place can do to the best in the game. Lowry so rarely looked like a member of the elite unfortunately. Of all the places to need a fast start, Oakmont may be the last you'd pick. Looking for birdies, Lowry found an opening bogey on the confiding 1st and followed it with a double and two more bogeys before he stepped on to the 5th. He was +14 and wanted to be anywhere else. There was a throwback to his misery at Quail Hollow when he repeated his 'f*** this place' line after that third bogey. His only birdie of the week arrived so late it felt early, on the par-4 7th but there was further woe on the way home, bogeys on 10, the brain fart on 14 and one last bogey on 15. As he congratulated McIlroy for making the cut, Lowry joked and laughed with his friend. 'Rather you than me,' may have been the gist of it. Lowry spoke to the Examiner last week about how hard he has found recent weeks with his wife and children already back in Ireland for the summer. He has one more event before he heads home for six weeks but as he prepares for a weighty return to the Open at Portrush, there can be no hiding the need for work. Lowry's 2025 major season reads as follows: a closing 81 at Augusta to plummet down the field, a missed cut at Quail Hollow and a tie for 138th at an Oakmont course where he was widely expected to contend. Not great. For McIlroy, a wholly unpredictable weekend awaits. As afternoon scores spiked and big names tumbled, some made the point that Scottie Scheffler may have sat at 4-over but in a tie for 23rd, just seven back with only three major wins between him and the lead. McIlroy is just two further back on the course which offers up the least predictability in golf.
RTÉ News
an hour ago
- RTÉ News
Birdie at the last sees Rory McIlroy make the US Open cut
Rory McIlroy will be around for the weekend at the US Open after just making the cut on six under after a round of 72. The Masters champion made a birdie at the last to guarantee his involvement in the final two rounds at the Oakmont Country Club. That said, it was a frustrating day for McIlroy and it all got too much for him on the 12th. After miscuing his second shot on the par-five, 647-yard hole, he threw his club in the air. And then on the 17th he smashed one of the tee markers after his disappointing drive. A couple of double bogeys early on had the 2011 champion under real pressure but he settled down and made birdie at nine. There was a dropped shot on 11, but birdies on 15 and that saver at the last ensures McIlroy will have the chance to post a round in the 60s as he aims for a high finish. Birdie for the weekend 🐦 @McIlroyRory converts to make it inside the projected cutline @USOpenGolf. — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 13, 2025 Shane Lowry had day to forget. A round of 78 to add to his opening 79 left him at 17 over. Sam Burns is the at the halfway point after taming Oakmont. The 2023 Ryder Cup player carded a brilliant five-under-par 65 to move to three under. He was one shot behind overnight leader JJ Spaun, who began his round at lunchtime on Friday. The brutal Oakmont course, with punishing rough and treacherous greens, has chewed up and spat out some of the world's best players so far, but Burns was able to thrive. Starting at two over after Thursday's opening round, he produced a blemish-free 31 with four birdies to make the turn at two under. He dropped a shot at the first hole, his 10th of the day, but recovered with birdies at the second and fourth before draining a 22-foot putt to save par. "I didn't really think of much of a score. The golf course is really too difficult to try to figure out what's a good score and what's not," Burns said. "You're really just shot by shot and trying to play each hole the best you can. "There's obviously a lot of golf left on a very tough golf course, so I think really this afternoon just getting rest and getting ready. "I'm looking forward to the weekend. It's a 72-hole golf tournament, and if you can get a round under par out here, no matter if it's one under, you'll take it." First-round leader JJ Spaun followed the eighth bogey-free round at Oakmont in US Open history with six bogeys on Friday, but he managed a two over 72 and settled into second place at two under for the championship. Brooks Koepka was sitting at two under overnight but dropped down to two over after a difficult second nine holes saw him hit five bogeys. Jon Rahm was another player who endured a torrid time, especially on the greens, as he tumbled down the leaderboard after a five-over-par 75. "Honestly, I'm too annoyed and too mad right now to think about any perspective," the Spaniard said. "Very few rounds of golf I played in my life where I think I hit good putts and they didn't sniff the hole, so it's frustrating." Indeed, the terrifying course in Pennsylvania was playing even tougher on Friday. Norway's Victor Hovland joins Burns in the red after he carded a two-under-par 68 to sit one under overall. Hovland was at three under with four holes to play but two dropped shots, at the sixth and eighth holes, proved costly. World number one Scottie Scheffler insists he is not out of contention, despite sitting seven shots off the clubhouse lead. Scheffler, who has won his last two tournaments, including the PGA Championship, was on four over par after carding a one-over 71 in Friday's second round. It seems a stretch to imagine Scheffler lifting the trophy on Sunday afternoon but the Oakmont course is chewing top players up and spitting them out and Scheffler reckons it could still bite plenty of people above him on the leaderboard. "It felt like me getting away with one over today wasn't all that bad. It could have been a lot worse," he said. "Overall, I'm definitely not out of the tournament. Today I think with the way I was hitting it, it was easily a day I could have been going home, but I battled pretty hard to stay in there. "I'm four over. We'll see what the lead is after today, but around this golf course I don't think by any means I'm out of the tournament. "I'm not in the position I'd want to be after two days, but by no means am I out of the tournament." 🚨 ACE ALERT 🚨 Victor Perez 🇫🇷 with a great shot and an even better celebration! — U.S. Open (@usopengolf) June 13, 2025 Frenchman Victor Perez hit a stunning hole in one during his second round. With the brutal Oakmont course causing havoc for the world's top players, Perez decided the best idea was to take the punishing rough and treacherous greens out of the equation. At the 192-yard par-three sixth hole, his seven-iron tee shot was rifled towards the flag in the middle of the green, bounced three times and rolled into the hole. Perez celebrated wildly, chest-bumping his caddie James Erkenbeck before taking congratulations off playing partners Jacob Bridgeman and Adam Schenk. It moved him from three over par to one over and repaired some of the damage of a triple-bogey eight on the par-five 12th.
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Rory McIlroy scraps his way to making cut at US Open
The script turned nasty for the two pals, as Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry – who'd started this 125th US Open with genuine ambitions – were cast as fall guys, forced to find an escape route out of an examination that asked one tough question after another. McIlroy survived. Lowry didn't. Frustration was evident in their behaviour as the pressure mounted, hole by hole, shot by shot. In McIlroy's case, it was a club throw down on the 12th hole after an iron approach to the Par 5 turned so that the ball nestled into the gnarly rough. The two-handed toss of the 3-iron some 20 yards down the fairway left nobody watching in any doubt as to his utter frustration. READ MORE On the 17th, it surfaced again when he smashed his 3-wood into the tee marker after pushing his shot into a greenside bunker, short-siding himself. There was a pair of them in it, sharing the frustration of the game; and the course! For Lowry, his frazzled mind played tricks on him. On the 14th green, he inexplicably bent down to pick up his ball without marking, a one stroke penalty for his actions turning what was a bogey into a double-bogey. Not that it truly mattered at that juncture, as Lowry's fate was well and truly sealed by then after a start to his round that saw him go bogey-double bogey-bogey-bogey in his opening four holes. Shane Lowry of Ireland reacts to a bunker shot on the second hole during the second round of the US Open. Photograph:Somehow, McIlroy found a way to survive into the weekend. The task proved beyond Lowry. McIlroy ensured he would be around for the weekend – some nine shots behind 36-holes leader Sam Burns – after signing for a second round 72 for six-over-par 146, a shot inside the cutline. McIlroy showed his class when it matted on the Par 4 18th, standing on the tee box on the cutline, he unleashed a drive of 372 yards down the middle of the fairway and hit an approach in to five feet for a birdie. He calmly rolled in the putt, and gave a sigh of relief. It hadn't started so well. McIlroy could hardly afford to put a foot wrong in his bid to, firstly, make the cut, and, secondly, to try to play his way back into the championship. Rory McIlroy throws his club on the 12th hole during the second round of the US Open. Photograph:The misstep, though, came right from the off: his driver, so often the foundation in a season that has already claimed him three titles – the Pebble Beach pro-am, The Players and the Masters – was disobedient from the get-go, finding a fairway bunker down the left of the first hole as McIlroy started the second round with a double-bogey six. If that misdemeanour put McIlroy on the back foot from the off, worse was to follow. Another double-bogey six followed in quickstep time, on the third hole. This time, McIlroy's drive found a fairway bunker down the right. Having started his round four-over from an opening round 74, the world number two's challenge to survive had doubled before he knew it. A birdie from 30 feet on the ninth hole at least gave McIlroy some hope as he turned for home, only for another tee shot on the 11th to sneak into a fairway bunker down the left which led to another bogey. The club toss on 12 graphically showcased his frustration, where he would par the Par 5. Finally, McIlroy saw some light, as a 20-footer for birdie on the 15th brought him to 7-over for the championship (onto the cut line). Survival at least within reach. And he closed the deal magnificently on the final hole to get into the weekend's final two rounds and the chance to play pursuit of Burns and those ahead. Lowry, though, will have to wait until a return to Royal Portrush for next month's 153rd Open after a thoroughly disappointing return to Oakmont where he was runner-up in 2016. This time, a 78 second round to add to his opening 79 left him cast well adrift on 17-over-par 157.
