Looking ahead to the rest of the 2026 PGA Championship - ESPN

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — The first round of the 108th PGA Championship is in the books, and the leaderboard seemingly could not be more crowded.

Seven players are tied for the lead at 3-under, including defending champion and four-time major winner Scottie Scheffler, while a whopping 48 players are within three shots of the lead. That's the most at a major championship ever.

There's still so much golf to be played, but if Thursday is any indication, this leaderboard combined with Aronimink Golf Club — with its windy conditions and tricky greens — is prepared to make the rest of the tournament compelling.

Mark Schlabach: Rory McIlroy described his opening round of 4-over 74 as «s---.» He's still struggling with his driver, which has historically been one of his greatest strengths.

After opening with a bogey on No. 10, McIlroy made a 6-foot birdie putt on No. 11. He made 10 straight pars after that and was even through 12 holes.

That's when things fell apart in a hurry. He hit his tee shot into the right rough and made bogey on No. 4. After making a 31½-foot birdie putt on No. 5, McIlroy hit his next four tee shots to the right, leading to four straight bogeys.

According to stats guru Justin Ray, it was the first time McIlroy made bogey or worse in each of the final four holes in 990 rounds in majors.

«I'm just not driving the ball well enough,» McIlroy said. «It's been a problem all year for the most part. Yeah, like I miss it right, and then I want to try to correct it. And then I'll overdo it, and I'll miss it left. It's a little bit of back and forth that way. So that's pretty frustrating, especially when I pride myself on driving the ball well.

»I just need to try to figure it out."

McIlroy hit only five of 14 fairways