Tom McKibbin was pleased to shoot under par in a major for the first time in his career but said there is still a” lot of golf left” at the US PGA Championship.
The 22-year-old from Northern Ireland carded a one-under-par 70 at Quail Hollow to leave him in a tie for 29th after the first round.
McKibbin, who plays on the Legion XIII team in LIV Golf alongside John Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, carded four birdies and three bogeys in a round where he felt he took advantage of what was offered by the course.
“Veryhappy. To shoot under par out there was nice,” he said.
“The course is playing difficult as you’d expect.
“I took advantageof theholes that are gettable and parred my way around the rest.
“Pretty cool, but it’s only 18 holes. There’s a lot of golf left.”
The course in North Carolina, which usually hosts the Truist Championship on the PGA Tour, was subject to heavy rain in the days leading up to the tournament.
McKibbin described the conditions as “stressful”, especially during the three-hole finish dubbed the ‘Green Mile’.
“Very much as expected, the greens are very firm. Some of the pins are hard to get the ball close,” he said.
“You’re just sort of grinding for pars. The fairways are very soft.
“It makes it play long, so it’s stressful at times. Those last three holes are very, very hard, the right-to-left wind and all the troubles up the left.”
McKibbin tees off at 14:06 BST in the second round on Friday and said his approach will be “more of the same”.
“Eliminatemistakes, hit fairways, hit greens,” he said.
“Once you start missing fairways and the greens, especially in the wrong spots, it can get kind of tricky.”
