Much was made about Rory McIlroy's strong history at Quail Hollow Club coming into the 2025 PGA Championship—and for good reason.
After all, the Northern Irishman has notched four victories in Charlotte at the PGA Tour event currently known as the Truist Championship (formerly the Wells Fargo), the most recent coming just last year as he shot 17-under to cruise to a five-shot win over Xander Schauffele. He's also earned an additional five top-10 finishes here throughout his career.
Throw in the fact that he's easily been the best player on the planet this season with wins at Pebble Beach, The Players Championship, and The Masters, and Rory was effectively being awarded the Wanamaker Trophy by many before ever hitting a shot this week.
But things certainly didn't go as McIlroy had planned during Thursday's opening round. Easily one of the best drivers of the golf ball the world has ever seen, the 36-year-old hit just four of 14 fairways in Round 1 and struggled with the short stick as well en route to a 3-over round of 74, his worst score at Quail Hollow since a 5-over 76 in the second round of the 2018 Wells Fargo.
He also recorded a double-bogey six at the always challenging 16th, marking his first double in Charlotte since 2010. Rory was able to overcome that particular double that year, as he went on to record his first-ever PGA Tour victory.
But if McIlroy wants to keep his calendar Grand Slam hopes alive this week, he'll have to do something that's only been achieved once in major championship history. And, by the way, that lone instance came nearly 129 years ago.
Only one player has trailed by 10 shots after the opening round of a major and gone on to win
When Rory walked off the course on Thursday, he was seven shots out of the lead. But that was before Jhonattan Vegas ended his day with a 7-under 64, thus leaving McIlroy 10 shots behind.
In the long and storied history of major championship golf, only one player has trailed by 10 shots or more and gone on to win.
That honor belongs to the legendary Harry Vardon, who trailed Sandy Herd by 11 shots at the 1896 edition of The Open Championship after an opening-round 83 at Muirfield. But Vardon fought all the way back and ultimately defeated J.H. Taylor in a 36-hole playoff (yeah, that was a thing) to secure the first of his record six Open Championship victories.
So, that's the company McIlroy could join if he's somehow able to pull this off.
Now, Rory did trail Justin Rose by seven shots after the first round of The Masters last month. And we all know how that played out. So, he's certainly capable of a comeback. But with Vegas having a second straight solid round on Friday, the challenge only got that much more difficult for McIlroy, who trailed by 13 when his second round got underway.