Matt McCarty fired a birdie-filled 63 at Quail Hollow while Rory McIlroy opened his Truist Championship return with 17 straight pars.
Matt McCarty took control of the Truist Championship with the kind of putting round golfers dream about.
McCarty opened Thursday at Quail Hollow Club with an 8-under 63, making nine birdies before rain halted the first round.
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He leads Sungjae Im by one shot, though Im still had one hole remaining when play was suspended.
The surprise wasn’t just McCarty’s score. It was how quiet Rory McIlroy looked in his first competitive round since winning his second straight Masters more than three weeks ago.
McIlroy, a four-time winner at Quail Hollow, opened with 17 consecutive pars before finally making birdie at No. 9, his final hole of the day.
He raised both arms in mock celebration after the putt dropped, then finished with a 1-under 70, seven shots off the lead.
“I was thinking I can’t remember the last time I played a round of golf and didn’t have a birdie,” McIlroy said. “I think I was like ‘just try to make one.’ I thought my chance had passed me by, but nice to see one putt go in there.”
McCarty had no such issues. He caught fire with the putter, including birdie bombs from 59 feet at No. 16 and 52 feet at No. 17, conquering two-thirds of Quail Hollow’s brutal closing stretch known as The Green Mile.
“I’ve been playing some good golf for the last few weeks,” McCarty said.
“I wasn’t hitting it that great early today but you make a bunch of 50-plus footers and it kind of gets your day going.”
Sepp Straka, Kristoffer Reitan, Nicolai Højgaard, Harry Hall and Nick Taylor sit three shots back at 5-under. Cameron Young, fresh off last week’s win at Doral, is four back along with Tommy Fleetwood.
McIlroy said the rain-softened course should have helped him.
“The fairways are pretty wet and the golf course is playing very, very long which should play into my hands,” McIlroy said. “I felt like I hit the ball well… but I got three more days to try to catch up to everyone.”
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