Returning to Olympic Games a ‘huge priority’ for Rio medalists

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TULSA, Okla. — Tiger Woods made it sound as though Rory McIlroy played a brand of golf with which he wasn’t familiar Thursday in the PGA Championship. McIlroy looked free and easy and saw only opportunity at Southern Hills. He blasted his driver over trees and into fairways, setting up some of his seven birdies that carried him to a 5-under 65 and an early one-shot lead. Woods picked his spots and was never terribly crisp on a right leg he said felt worse than it did at the Masters last month. He fell apart in the middle of his round and at the end, finishing with two bogeys for a 74 and his worst start to a PGA since 2015. It was just what McIlroy needed as he tries to end nearly eight years without a major, many of those chances doomed by bad starts. This was his lowest start to par since a 5-under 66 when he won the PGA at Valhalla in 2014, the last of his four majors. “I think when your game is feeling like that, it’s just a matter of going out there and really sticking to your game plan, executing as well as you possibly can and just sort of staying in your own little world,” McIlroy said. “I feel like this course, it lets you be pretty aggressive off the tee if you want to be, so I hit quite a lot of drivers out there and took advantage of my length and finished that off with some nice iron play and some nice putting.” Will Zalatoris and Pebble Beach winner Tom Hoge each opened with a 66, while Matt Kuchar and Abraham Ancer were another shot behind. McIlroy and Woods were joined in the group by Jordan Spieth, who lacks only this major to complete the career Grand Slam and arrived in Tulsa with his game in good form. But a series of missed birdie chances was followed by a series of missed par putts, and Spieth never quite recovered. He had a late birdie and saved par on his final hole at No. 9 for a 72. Masters champion Scottie Scheffler was among those who played in the afternoon, as the heat index crept toward 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 Celsius). The difference between McIlroy and Woods was clear early in the round. On the 461-yard 12th hole, Woods hit iron off the tee that left him 178 yards. McIlroy pounded driver with a slight fade with the prevailing breeze, leaving him 86 yards. He hit lob wedge to a foot for birdie. That was the start of four straight birdies for McIlroy, which included a 6-iron to 25 feet for his longest birdie of the day at the par-3 14th. McIlroy made birdie on the two par 5s from greenside bunkers, hitting a 3-iron both times on the 628-yard 13th and the 665-yard fifth. He hit another big drive on the tough par-4 second, leaving 7-iron to about 10 feet. That one felt like a bonus to him. “You go out there and hit driver a lot, and if you have a hot week, you have a hot week and you’re up there,” Woods said. “The game is just different. It’s much more aggressive now, and I know that. But I was playing to my spots. If I would have hit the ball solidly on those two holes and put the ball in the fairway, I would have been fine.” He was speaking of No. 4, where he put iron in the rough and McIlroy hit a 327-yard drive up the hill and into the wind that left him a flip wedge to the green (he missed an 8-foot putt); and the ninth hole, when Woods’ tee shot hit a tree and left him a 4-iron to the green. The bigger concern was his leg. Woods has said he has good days and bad from a leg badly injured in his February 2021 car crash, and this didn’t looked like a great one. Of equal concern was going into Friday nine shots behind McIlroy and likely having to fight to make the cut. The warmth — not oven heat like the 2007 PGA in August — and mild wind led to ideal scoring, though Southern Hills still had enough defense. Only 17 of the 78 players from the morning wave broke par. “I don’t think a major champion here has ever been double digits under par, so you know the scores aren’t going to go much further,” Hoge said. “It’s a grind out here. If you get out of position in the rough here, it’s tough to control the golf ball around these greens because they can get running off so fast. You just try to keep it simple.” One other part of Southern Hills’ history with seven previous majors: Five of the champions had at least a share of the 18-hole lead. Xander Schauffele was in the group at 68, while Tony Finau was among those at 69. John Daly tried to revive some memories at age 56 and with a beard longer than any rough at Southern Hills. He opened with a 67 in 2007 and was 2 under through 10 holes until fading at the end with four bogeys over his last five holes for a 72.

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GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Joohyung “Tom” Kim began the Wyndham Championship with a quadruple bogey on his first hole and wasn’t the least bit bothered. The kid seems to be going places in a hurry. Already assured a PGA TOUR card for next season, Kim overcame his rough start with a 6-under 64 on Friday that gave him a share of the lead with Brandon Wu and Ryan Moore in the final PGA TOUR event of the regular season. Kim, a 20-year-old South Korean, has to win at Sedgefield Country Club to qualify for the FedExCup playoffs because he will not be considered a PGA TOUR member until September when the new season starts. Only a victory gives him instant membership. He doesn’t feel extra pressure to get it done. Considering where he was a month ago, Kim is happy to be where he is. Kim — he goes by “Tom” because of his fascination as a kid with Thomas the Tank Engine in the TV series “Thomas & Friends” — finished third in the Scottish Open, made the cut in the British Open and 3M Open, and then finished seventh last week in the Rocket Mortgage Classic. That gave him enough points to be assured of a card next year. And as he has shown in two days, it takes a lot to stop this train. He took eight shots for his first hole on Thursday. Since then, Kim has made 14 birdies and reached 9-under 131 along with Wu (67) and Moore (67). “If you would have told me after the first hole yesterday where I’d be after two days, I definitely would have taken it, so pretty happy,” Kim said. “It’s just one bad hole,” he said, “Told myself, ‘You know what? I’ve got plenty of holes to bring it back if I just play well on my next 35 holes.’ And that’s exactly what I did. I played better than I thought I was going to, so it’s a bonus.” John Huh, who opened with a 61, had a 71 and was one shot behind along with Russell Henley (65) and Sungjae Im (67). A storm late in the afternoon led to a delay that kept the second round from finishing until Saturday morning, and there will be consequences. Chris Gotterup needed a par on the 18th hole for the cut to be 2-under 138. But he went into a bunker, blasted long and faced a 4-foot bogey putt when he returned in the morning. He will finish no better than 1 under, which could let as many as 23 players into the weekend. Austin Smotherman, however, was 1 under and had a 12-foot birdie putt on No. 8, his 17th hole. Smotherman is the equivalent of No. 125 in the FedExCup, and has to make the cut to keep alive his hopes of getting into the postseason. Moore needs a big weekend, too. Coming off a chronic back injury, nothing short of a solo second will be enough for Moore to regain his full card for next season. He’s not thinking about that as much as taking time off to rest and get his back in shape. He said there is deterioration where the rib joint meets the spine, and swinging a golf club isn’t necessarily the best therapy. But he can see the finish line, and a great result this week would help with his status and confidence going forward. As for the top 125 who qualify for the postseason? “I’m so far out of it, it doesn’t even matter at this point,” he said. “I’ve been dealing with this injury for a while. I know what’s wrong now. I just need time to deal with it. So right now it’s just trying to find a little form, a little confidence to spring me into this fall.” Rickie Fowler is getting time off he doesn’t want. He had three straight bogeys early in his second round and rallied for a 69. That left him at even par for the tournament to miss the cut. Fowler is the equivalent of No. 123 and most likely would fall out of the top 125, missing the postseason for the second straight year. Brian Stuard started at No. 137 in the FedExCup and followed his opening 65 with a 68, two shots off the lead. A strong weekend would allow him to get into the top 125. DIVOTS: Jason Day withdrew because of an illness. He had opened with a 67. … Former Masters champion Danny Willett was headed for a missed cut and will finish out of the top 125.

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