Frustrated Rory McIlroy says what he did ‘terribly’ after ‘awful’ round on day one at the BMW Championship

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Rory McIlroy found it tough going during day one of the BMW Championship.

McIlroy showed clear signs of rust in his opening round of even-par 70 at the BMW Championship at Caves Valley on Thursday.

The Northern Irishman was nowhere near his best and he made three sloppy bogeys – mistakes which were offset by three birdies.

McIlroy skipped the FedEx St. Jude Championship last week, but perhaps it would have been better for him to maintain his rhythm ahead of the final two FedEx Cup Playoff events.

The Masters champion was completely out of sorts at Caves Valley on Thursday and if it weren’t for his putter, his round could have been a lot worse.

Scottie Scheffler outshone McIlroy in the BMW Championship marquee pairing, and the 36-year-old will be determined to get his own back on the world number one on Friday.

Rory McIlroy says what he did ‘terribly’ on day one of the BMW Championship

McIlroy seemed to struggle with his long game throughout the entire round.

When speaking to the media after his opening round of 70, McIlroy delivered an extremely honest assessment of how he played.

He said: “Awful. Yeah, I got off to a bad start. Sort of pieced it together a little bit in the middle of the round and clawed it back to even par. But drove the ball terribly.

“Then when you’re sort of hitting out of the rough from the fairway bunkers here — when I hit the fairways, I give myself chances. I need to hit more fairways the next three days.“

McIlroy is renowned for being one of the best drivers in the professional game, if not the best.

So when he’s slightly off with the big stick, it is more noticeable than when other players aren’t at their best.

Rory McIlroy’s stats during day one of the BMW Championship

McIlroy suggested that his driving was terrible at Caves Valley on Thursday.

However, do the stats back up that summary?

It’s interesting that McIlroy’s self assessment of his opening round at the BMW Championship wasn’t actually reflected by his stats.

The worst part of his game was in the strokes gained around the greens and approach categories, where he lost shots to the field.

However, he actually gained strokes on the field off the tee, albeit by a minuscule amount.

The challenge for McIlroy now will be to improve in all departments on day two and to fire himself back into contention at the BMW Championship.