McIlroy back to the drawing board to solve driving woes
Rory McIlroy opens with a 74 at the PGA Championship, frustrated by driving woes.
Paul McGinley has raised concerns that Rory McIlroy may have violated code of conduct rules during the PGA Championship. McIlroy is currently dealing with a blister on his pinky toe, affecting his performance.
Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images
Rory McIlroy made a solid if not spectacular start to the PGA Championship on Thursday.
McIlroyâs preparation for the PGA Championship at Aronimink definitely didnât go to plan,
The 37-year-old has been struggling with a blister on his pinky toe â something that he picked up at the Truist Championship last week.
Rory McIlroy had to cut his PGA Championship practice round short after suffering discomfort due to the blister under his toenail.
However, McIlroy didnât seem to be limping at all on Thursday at Aronimink.
Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images
Despite being fully fit, there werenât any fireworks from the Northern Irishman on day one of the PGA Championship.
At the time of writing, McIlroy was even-par after 14 holes of his first round, but Paul McGinley suggested that he could be in trouble after what he did on the fourth tee.
McIlroyâs game looked very rusty on Thursday at Aronimink.
He certainly wasnât terrible, but he made a couple of extremely sloppy bogeys.
And McIlroyâs day potentially could get even worse, according to McGinley.
On the fourth tee (McIlroyâs 13th hole of the day), he smashed the turf with his driver after flaring his tee shot out to the right into the thick rough.
And McGinley shared his concern about McIlroyâs actions.
Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images
âOh Rory,â McGinley exclaimed.
*â*Thereâs a new code of conduct that has come in for all the major championships now.
âWe saw it at The Masters. I donât know if thatâs considered a breach or not.â
McIlroyâs actions on the fourth tee at Aronimink were certainly not pretty, but it would be incredibly harsh if he was penalized strokes.
Players have done much worse in the majors this season already; just look at what Sergio Garcia did at The Masters last month!
New rules were brought in at the start of 2026 in an attempt to expurgate some of the poor behavior we witnessed from certain players on the golf course throughout the 2025 season.
The likes of Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry and Cam Young were all guilty of displaying angry outbursts on the golf course last year.
As confirmed by the USGA, the new code of conduct was brought in to âpenalize egregious on-course temper tantrums and outburstsâ.
It is suggested that the new code of conduct overhaul is âpart of a broader push to standardize and penalize inappropriate behavior directly on the scorecardâ.
The new rules allow each governing body to set their own standards for how players should conduct themselves.
Players who are found guilty of a breach of those standards could be handed a one-stroke penalty or even a two-stroke penalty for more extreme cases.
Whether Rory McIlroyâs actions on the fourth tee during day one of the PGA Championship fall into the category of a breach of the code of conduct remains to be seen.
Paul McGinley suggested that Rory McIlroy may have breached unspecified code of conduct rules during the PGA Championship.
Rory McIlroy is struggling with a blister on his pinky toe, which has impacted his preparation and performance at the PGA Championship.
Rory McIlroy faced challenges with his preparation for the PGA Championship due to a blister he developed at the Truist Championship.
Rory McIlroy opens with a 74 at the PGA Championship, frustrated by driving woes.
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