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Nothing super about Round 1 of the PGA for Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The super-grouping of the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 players in the world may have a difficult time finishing that way on the final leaderboard at the PGA Championship.

Only world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, with a 2-under 69, finished under par after the opening round at Quail Hollow. Defending PGA champion Xander Schauffele scratched out a late birdie for a 73 while Masters winner Rory McIlroy played his last 12 holes in 4 over par for a 74.

“Hopefully tomorrow we will play a little bit better,” Scheffler said afterward. “This morning was a bit of a struggle.”

It was the second time in two months that Nos. 1, 2 and 3 were grouped together; the PGA Tour put them together at The Players in March, when McIlroy emerged from the pack to deny Scheffler a three-peat at TPC Sawgrass. This one had even more juice, coming off McIlroy’s emotional triumph to complete the final leg of the career Grand Slam. Scheffler also romped to a dominant eight-shot victory in his final PGA tune-up, while Schauffele, fresh off a two-major 2024, had started to round into form after an offseason rib injury.

After a quiet first hour, all three players took turns making a mess of the par-4 16^th on Thursday morning. McIlroy nearly hooked his tee shot into the pond, slipped while pitching out and took a double-bogey 6. He was promptly followed by Scheffler and then Schauffele, both of whom found the fairway off the tee but whose balls were caked in mud. The game’s preeminent iron player, Scheffler guessed wrong on the mud’s impact and watched his ball tail left and bounce into the water. In a similar position, Schauffele said he practically aimed at the grandstand down the right side and still didn’t account for enough unpredictability with his “ridiculous” mud ball, as he too slung his approach into the water.

“I kept the honor with making a double on a hole,” Scheffler said with a smile, “and I think that will probably be the first and last time in my career unless we get some crazy weather conditions.”

The world’s top 3 players all made the same, horrible score on the 16th hole Thursday at the PGA Championship.

Afterward, both Scheffler and Schauffele sounded off about the prevalence of mud balls a day after the PGA of America, in what appeared to be a preemptive strike, announced that it would not play preferred lies for the opening round despite the course receiving more than four inches of rain over the past week. Players were expecting mud balls to be an issue – but likely later in the week, once 90-degree temperatures and a mild breeze dried out the rain-soaked venue.

“A lot of guys are dealing with it,” Schauffele said, “but it’s just unfortunate to be hitting good shots and to pay them off that way. It’s kind of stupid.”

Scheffler, at least, said he was proud of how he responded from the bad break, only dropping one shot the rest of the way while picking up three birdies. The last of those came after a towering 6-iron into the 530-yard ninth, his final hole of the day, that took one hop and settled 2 feet away from the cup. It was an ideal capper for an uneven day that also included an eagle putt from off the front edge and other squandered chances.

His 69 left him just three shots off the early lead.

“I did a good job battling and keeping a level head out there during a day which there was definitely some challenging aspects to the course,” Scheffler said, “and I did a good job posting a number on a day where I didn’t have my best stuff.”

It was far from McIlroy’s best effort in his first major round since joining golf’s most exclusive club.

After an opening birdie at a place he’s dominated like no other, McIlroy managed to hit just four fairways and ranked nearly last in the field in putting, holing a total of just 44 feet worth of putts. Most frustrating was a short miss on the short 14^th (his fifth of the day), a misjudged pitch while greenside on the par-5 seventh and a failed up-and-down on the drivable eighth that left him outside the top 100 on the leaderboard. His day ended in fitting fashion, with a missed 10-footer that gave him a 74 that matched his worst score of the season.

McIlroy declined to speak to the media after his round.

Schauffele, who has finished runner-up on this course each of the past two years, said he didn’t get much out of his round on a day when he drove the ball better than he had for much of the season. He birdied just one of the three par 5s, found the water on the drivable 14^th and believed he gave away two shots on the unfortunate break in the middle of the 16^th fairway.

“If I can keep hitting the driver in the fairway,” he said, “I’ll be fine.”

Not all is lost for the PGA’s super-group – the last eight winners have been ranked outside the top 30 as often as the top 10 over the past eight years.