{"id":964672,"date":"2026-05-16T16:35:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T16:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/964672\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T16:35:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T16:35:13","slug":"pga-championship-live-updates-rory-mcilroy-makes-good-start-on-moving-day-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/964672\/","title":{"rendered":"PGA Championship live updates: Rory McIlroy makes good start on moving day \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>LEADERBOARD<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">-4 McNealy, Smalley<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">-3 Kirk (14), Potgieter, Jaeger, MW Lee, Greyserman, Matsuyama, Gotterup<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \"><b>Irish:<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">-1 McIlroy (7)<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">E Harrington (15)<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">+4 Lowry (17)<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \"><b>Key tee times:<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">5.50pm Jon Rahm, Andrew Putnam<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">6.40pm Scottie Scheffler, David Puig<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">7.40pm Alex Smalley, Maverick McNealy<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \"><b>Birdie for Harrington!<\/b> He holes that putt which the wood set up and his fine day continues.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">Unfortunately, the alcohol is starting to flow in Philly, even though it\u2019s barely passed midday, and someone shouts \u201cmiss the green\u201d at Rory (-1) for his tee shot. Which is just a tad too far to the left, in the fringe beside the green.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">Three birdies in a row by 2024 champion Schauffele, he makes a significant move to get to -2.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">Par for McIlroy at the 7th, going along nicely and a par 5 to come on the 9th. He hasn\u2019t really taken advantage of them this week, that needs to change if he\u2019s to threaten the lead. Realistically he needs to get to at least -3 or -4 you\u2019d think given the easier conditions as the lead should get to -6 or -7 minimum unless conditions change.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">Before that, he has a tricky tee shot at the 8th to navigate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">Justin Rose has made quite the move today, up to -3 and six under on the day. Like a completely different course they\u2019re playing. McIlroy (-1) is just bombing it down every hole and attacking, but is a bit heavy handed on the 7th from 58 yards and he\u2019ll have 27 feet left for birdie. He\u2019s been within 100 yards with his approaches several times today already. The driver in top form again.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \"><b>A cracker by Harrington (+1) on the 15th!<\/b> With a wood from 270 yards to four feet for birdie at the long par 4 into the wind. That to get back to Even par.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">Good lag putt for Rory (E) on 6, he\u2019ll have three or four feet for birdie. Missed that length for par on the 4th, but he\u2019ll fancy his chance of getting under par there.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \"><b>Birdie for McIlroy!<\/b> Confidently holed and well deserved after the drive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \"><b>Bogey for Harrington!<\/b> Sadly Harrington drops to +1 after bogeying the 14th. His tee shot went in the bunker, hit his recovery to 12 feet but missed the putt. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \"><b>Birdie for McIlroy!<\/b> Excellent response to the dropped shot, immediately birdies the next one. Tee shot from 153 yards to 12 feet from the hole, drains the putt to get back to Even par.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">Then on the next hole he hits an incredible drive. On the 5th, which is 397 yards, he cuts the corner and it rolls up to the green, hitting it 369 yards. Wow, he has that for eagle!<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">Check out this shot by Shane Lowry:<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \"><b>Bogey for McIlroy!<\/b> Oh dear, he misses from about three feet for par, his putt hits the edge and lips out and that\u2019s back to square one on the 4th, disappointing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">Chris Kirk is another who is -5 for the day, and -2 for the tournament. Michael Kim is now -6 for the day, -1 for the tournament.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">Justin Rose (-2) is flying up the leaderboard and just missed a chance to move within one of the lead. Harrington (E) is keeping it steady with five pars in a row as he\u2019s on the 13th hole.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">132 yards for McIlroy (E) from the fairway at the 4th, but not a great approach this time, gets a hard bounce with the wedge and goes over the back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">McIlroy (E) hits a good wedge to the green on the 2nd from 80 yards to about 10 feet, but the putt just slips by for birdie. On the 3rd, he is in the bunker off the tee, but sets up another birdie chance, albeit farther away than before<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \"><b>Back-to-back birdies for Lowry!<\/b> He gets back to +3 after chipping in on the 14th.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">Rory (E) at the second takes on an aggressive line and hits a big-hitting draw into the rough. But shouldn\u2019t be too bad depending on the lie, good angle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">Harrington (E) is on the fairway at the 11th, 111 yards left for his second.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \"><b>Birdie for McIlroy!<\/b> Confident putt off the right edge and he\u2019s back to even par. Within four.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">Harrington (E) has got up and down, holing from nine feet at the 10th.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">Harrington (E) has missed the green at the 10th, will have to use his short game powers to get up and down.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">Nice shot by Koepka (+1) to the back shelf. An even better shot by McIlroy to seven or eight feet for birdie at the first! Great start.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">McIlroy is heading for the first tee to a great reception. There are plenty of birdies today, maybe due to the higher temperatures and easier pins. Michael Kim is 5 under for the day thru 9, 2 under for the tournament. Chris Kirk and Justin Rose are 4 under for the day, while our man Harrington is 3 under for the day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">Brooks Koepka (+1), his playing partner today, is down the fairway. Great drive by Rory, outdriving him and on the fairway.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">Just the five PGA Championships between them in this pairing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">Hello and welcome to live coverage of the third round of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/us-pga-championship\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/us-pga-championship\/\">PGA Championship<\/a> at Aronimink in Philadelphia, where <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/rory-mcilroy\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/rory-mcilroy\/\">Rory McIlroy<\/a> tees off his third round starting at +1, well down the field yet only five strokes off an inexperienced duo of Mav McNealy and Alex Smalley. It is the most condensed Major leaderboard in 24 years after two days, it really is at the point where anyone could emerge from the pack and win it from here. If McIlroy follows up his 67 from yesterday with another or better, then he should be in with a shot come Sunday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph free \">On the course, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/padraig-harrington\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/padraig-harrington\/\">P\u00e1draig Harrington<\/a> continues to stun at 54 years of age. After shooting an under par round of 69 yesterday, he started the front nine today with three birdies on 1, 6 and 7 to move within four of the lead on Even par. What a legend and we\u2019ll be monitoring how he goes too. Shane Lowry is also on the course, but no fireworks at 4 over for the tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LEADERBOARD -4 McNealy, Smalley -3 Kirk (14), Potgieter, Jaeger, MW Lee, Greyserman, Matsuyama, Gotterup Irish: -1 McIlroy (7)&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":964673,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4106],"tags":[2826,14178,4287,7929,79,16,15,20757],"class_list":{"0":"post-964672","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-padraig-harrington","10":"tag-rory-mcilroy","11":"tag-shane-lowry","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-us-pga-championship"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116585229507934496","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=964672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/964673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=964672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=964672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=964672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}