Rory Mcllroy finished round one of the 2025 Player’s Championship at TPC Sawgrass with a five-under 67 charging a strong back nine performance, making him one-stroke off the lead.

This was Rory McIlroy’s second time competing in the Players Championship. At the first two holes, he birdied both but followed it with bogeys at holes three and seven. Fortunately, he surged back in the second half of the round. On the back nine, Rory was sinking putts and hitting all his shots with precision. Despite the comeback, he only hit four fairway shots but he gained about 3.5 strokes and hit about 13 greens.

According to CBS, he stated, “I certainly didn’t drive it the way I wanted to. Didn’t hit as many fairways as I would have liked. Yeah, I think with the greens being so receptive, you can get away with it a little bit. I’m not going to be able to get away with it for the rest of the week. Sort of my luck out there a little bit. But I’m trying to hit this cut shot into play. Missing right off the tee here on any hole is way better than missing left. Just sort of hitting this cut sort of up into the wind, and obviously you don’t need to hit it too far from here, so yeah, just going to go hit some balls here and figure it out and try to hit a few more fairways [Friday].”

By the end of round one Mcllroy was in a very strong position heading into the next round. His performance on the back nine not only put him closer to getting the title but also reminded his fans why he is a threat to everyone he plays in a tournament with.

I interviewed a freshman at Eleanor Roosevelt High School named Qibu Luo and she stated, “I don’t know what that is.”

I also interviewed another ERHS freshman named Aarish Faisal and he stated, “I don’t watch golf.”