{"id":627842,"date":"2026-09-17T20:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T20:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/627842\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T20:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T20:48:11","slug":"aaron-rai-shrugs-off-early-nerves-to-outshine-playing-partner-rory-mcilroy-golf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/627842\/","title":{"rendered":"Aaron Rai shrugs off early nerves to outshine playing partner Rory McIlroy | Golf"},"content":{"rendered":"

What do you get for shooting 60 in a pro-am? Just ask Rory \u00adMcIlroy. \u00ad\u201cNothing,\u201d said the Masters \u00adchampion. \u201cBesides a social media post I didn\u2019t want.\u201d McIlroy was laughing but the underlying \u00adsentiment was obvious: exceptional rounds are best saved for the real stuff.<\/p>\n

News that McIlroy had taken only 60 shots around Wentworth\u2019s West Course while in the company of \u00adcelebrities was a hot topic of \u00adconversation going in to this PGA Championship. \u00adMcIlroy shrugged off the score as something he \u00adproduces fairly regularly. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean anything,\u201d he added. \u201cMy \u00adplaying partners were happy, they won something.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, this would have done nothing to improve the state of mind of Aaron Rai. The 31-year-old may be a major champion on account of \u00adheroics in this year\u2019s US PGA \u00adChampionship<\/a> but he \u00adadmitted to trepidation about playing in \u00adMcIlroy\u2019s company at Wentworth. Not that Rai displayed any sense of fear; his 66 outscored McIlroy by three. Ryan Fox, the other member of this illustrious group, signed for a 68. Day one honours belonged to the popular Rai.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt really nervous,\u201d said Rai. \u201cI can\u2019t remember feeling that \u00adnervous on a Thursday. It\u2019s an amazing \u00adexperience to be playing with the likes of Rory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely thought about it before we started today, a bit this morning and a bit the last couple of days when I found out what the draw was. Obviously it\u2019s really amazing to be out there with Ryan and Rory. I am just really pleased that I got into the round pretty fast and that I continued to play well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a place that I\u2019ve enjoyed before I even competed in the event here. I used to come here as a junior and watch the event and absolutely love it. I\u2019ve started to play really well here over the last three or four years or so. So it\u2019s a place that I enjoy and it\u2019s always good coming here.\u201d Indeed, Rai\u2019s score tied the early lead with Joakim Lagergren. The lead is one from Ryan Gerard and Adam Scott.<\/p>\n

McIlroy remains in the middle of technical changes as he seeks to remove bad habits from his swing. \u201cIt definitely still looks better on the range than it does when I get out there on the course,\u201d said the Northern Irishman. \u201cBut over time, if I just keep to what I\u2019m doing, it will hopefully start to bed in.\u201d McIlroy had been five under inside 10 holes before having to settle for minus three.<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy has been remodelling his swing. Photograph: Matthew Childs\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Patrick Reed\u2019s 68 was significant as he looks to hold off McIlroy in the DP World Tour\u2019s season-long order of merit. Reed and McIlroy have jousted in plenty of environments before, yet on this occasion the American insists it is not personal.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAny time I get to go play against Rory, it\u2019s always fun because that means you get to play some \u00adamazing golf,\u201d Reed said. \u201cWith his record and the r\u00e9sum\u00e9 that he has, he\u2019s a \u00adchampion. He\u2019s been a champion a ton of times and he\u2019s one of those guys that if you go up against the best, you\u2019re going to have to take him and Scottie [Scheffler] on. To have the opportunity to take him on throughout the whole rest of the year is going to be fun.\u201d Reed said if he denies McIlroy what would be a record-equalling eighth Race to Dubai title, he will only be delaying the inevitable.<\/p>\n

McIlroy has no fears about \u00adending the DP World Tour\u2019s \u00adseason in the United Arab \u00adEmirates. Matt \u00adFitzpatrick admitted on \u00adWednesday he is not comfortable<\/a> with \u00adparticipating in events in Abu Dhabi and Dubai amid the ongoing Middle East \u00adconflict. \u201cIf the local governments feel like it\u2019s safe to put on these events, they are not going to put their citizens or people \u00advisiting in harm\u2019s way,\u201d said McIlroy. \u201cI love the Middle East. I have a lot of friends there and I\u2019m looking forward to going back for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What do you get for shooting 60 in a pro-am? Just ask Rory \u00adMcIlroy. \u00ad\u201cNothing,\u201d said the Masters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-627842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}