Mitchell shoots 61 for one-shot lead at Truist Championship, McIlroy rusty

FLOURTOWN, Pa. — Keith Mitchell led a birdie spree on the Truist Championship on Thursday, taking pictures a career-best 9-under 61 to shatter the course document on the Philadelphia Cricket Membership.

The earlier Wissahickon Course document of 65 was shared by Colin St Maxen, Zac Blair and Angus Flanagan. The 7,100-yard A.W. Tillinghast design with modest par 4s and gettable pin placements fell sufferer to the lengthy hitters and aggressive pictures with brief irons and wedges.

Mitchell was bogey-free and had an outdoor probability at 59 on his second shot from 102 yards on the ninth gap, his 18th. He hit his strategy to simply over 9 ft and settled for a closing par and a one-shot lead over Denny McCarthy. Colin Morikawa, Rickie Fowler, Sepp Straka and Akshay Bhatia shot 63.

Rory McIlroy, making his first particular person begin since finishing the profession grand slam on the Masters, had a 66 and was one in all 64 gamers who beat par on the seemingly defenceless Wissahickon structure within the sixth signature occasion of the PGA Tour season.

Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont., was the low Canadian after taking pictures a 4-under 66 to sit down in a tie for twenty fifth. 

Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., and Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., have been tied for thirty fifth after an identical 3-under 67 rounds. Adam Hadwin, additionally from Abbotsford, was tied for 68th at 1-over 71.

Mitchell led the way in which regardless of a ho-hum begin of 5 straight pars on the again 9. Issues began to warmth up for the 33-year-old with a birdies on the stout seventeenth and 18th holes. His run continued with birdies on two of the primary three holes on his again 9 earlier than a four-birdie run for a 6-under 29 on the inward 9.

Mitchell mentioned he has a buddy who’s a member at Philly Cricket and obtained some intel forward of his arrival. However, he credited the work he and his caddie did early within the week finding out the greens for setting the stage for his success.

“I just plotted my way around Monday and Wednesday to figure out what to hit and where to kind of try to put the ball on the green,” mentioned Mitchell, who has one profession win and 6 top-25 finishes this 12 months with one missed reduce. “If you get above the hole really pin high on the wrong side, you can have a really fast putt and have a ton of breaks.”

The 32-year-old McCarthy, who has misplaced twice in playoffs and is winless on tour, was aided by a quick begin that included 5 straight birdies at Nos. 11-15. He opened his inward 9 with back-to-back birdies and added two extra for a satisfying, however not shocking to him, opening spherical.

“I’ve been playing really well lately, so it doesn’t really surprise me,” he mentioned. “There’s still a lot of golf left. This is a really nice start. I’m excited for how my game has been trending lately.”

McIlroy, the defending champion and four-time winner of the occasion, stayed along with his aggressive gameplan of attempting to overpower the structure with driver off the tee. He had two stumbles alongside the way in which: a three-putt on the par-4 eleventh and a bogey on the 570-yard, par-5 fifteenth, the place he scrambled after lacking the golf green along with his drive and the inexperienced along with his strategy from 243 yards.

McIlroy rapidly moved previous his first-round errors.

“I think it worked out fine,” McIlroy mentioned of his spherical of six birdies and two bogeys. ”I drove the ball fairly effectively. I missed it in a few spots, however was type of in a position to get away with it.”

McIlroy is enjoying for the primary time in about two weeks after celebrating his slam-clinching win on the Masters and Twelfth-place end in New Orleans, the place he and fellow Irishman Shane Lowry have been defending champs. He acknowledged his sport just isn’t in high kind.

“I felt like I was a little rusty out there, just hadn’t played in a week and I hadn’t really done a ton of practice, especially like on and around the greens,” he mentioned. “I certainly can tidy a few things up, but overall a decent day.”

Alex Noren made his return to the tour, enjoying for the primary time since August as a result of neck and leg accidents. The 42-year-old Swede opened with a 67 and was pleased to be again and regarded ahead to fine-tuning his sport.

“It’s weird not to play for so long,” he mentioned. “I’ve been looking forward to get some nervousness and some adrenaline flowing and just be a little sharper. You go around practicing your short game for a while. It’s not so inspiring in the end when you don’t really know when you can come back. Finally, the last two weeks, it felt good for two weeks in a row. The hamstring is holding up.”