‘As nice as we’re going to get it’: Golfers have unique take on a weird first day
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- A weird first day of weather meant a delayed start and early finish for Truist event.
- 20 players still on course when play suspended at 7:10 p.m.; they resume 10:30 am Friday.
- The second round begins at 11 a.m. Friday as scheduled; better weather is forecast.
Tommy Fleetwood, the Englishman with the long hair and the “Fairway Jesus” nickname, summed up Thursday maybe as well as anyone out at the Quail Hollow Club for the Truist Championship.
“Today is like as nice as we’re going to get it,” Fleetwood said following a round of 67, which put him near the top of the leaderboard for much of the first round at Charlotte’s annual PGA Tour event.
As nice as we’re going to get it? Most regular folks, including the thousands of fans streaming into Quail Hollow Thursday, would beg to differ.
The first real day of the tournament featured a cornucopia of Charlotte weather: It poured in the morning and grew almost unbearably hot and humid during a sunny afternoon. Then another downpour ended the day early, with 20 golfers still on the course at 7:10 pm.
If you happen to be holding tickets, those 20 players who didn’t finish (most have only a hole or so to play) will start at 10:30 a.m. Friday at Quail Hollow. Then, the second round will begin as scheduled at 11 a.m, with all 72 golfers in the field.
The weekend forecast makes it look likely that we won’t have any more weird weather days to contend with for the Truist. But pro golfers are different from you and me, and mostly what all of that rain meant to them Thursday was the chance to do something magnificent.
“I know it was wet and it plays a little longer, but the greens are so much softer than what we’ve had them in the practice days,” Fleetwood said. “So in terms of that, it’s nice to shoot a good score when you think that maybe there’s a good score out there on a course like this.”
There were certainly good scores to be had, although not by four-time Charlotte winner Rory McIlroy. He started his round with 17 straight pars and then finally made a birdie playing his 18th and final hole, after which he raised his arms in mock exultation like he’d just won the Masters again.
McIlroy’s score of 1-under-par wasn’t going to make a dent on the leaderboard on this day, however, when Matt McCarty dazzled everyone with an 8-under-par 63 to take the early lead. McCarty’s putter was the hottest thing on the course Thursday — in a span of five holes, he made three putts of at least 52 feet.
“You make a bunch of 50-plus footers,” McCarty said, “and it kind of gets your day going.”
Close behind McCarty, the 28-year-old from Scottsdale, Ariz., was Sungjae Im, a single stroke back. He was 7-under through 17 holes before inclement weather suspended play. After that came five other golfers, all at 5-under-par and all three strokes behind McCarty.
With Quail Hollow’s claws mostly retracted due to the heavy morning rain, Adam Scott’s 76 was the worst score of the day at 5-over. Well over half the field is at even-par or better. Nobody who is over par is in danger of missing the cut, though — because this is one of the PGA Tour’s signature events, there is no cut and all 72 players will be eligible to play the weekend.
Said Fleetwood of the greens: “Them just being more receptive was a big difference to what we had on Tuesday and Wednesday (during practice rounds).”
Said McCarty of those same greens: “I felt like they were a little too quick for me, so I think this rain slowed ‘em down to a perfect amount.”
McIlroy, who has won this tournament in 2010, 2015, 2021 and 2024, said that “the golf course is playing very, very long — which should play into my hands. I felt like I hit the ball well and hit enough good shots to be a little better than what I was. But I got three more days to try to catch up to everyone.”
This story was originally published May 8, 2026 at 5:30 AM with the headline "‘As nice as we’re going to get it’: Golfers have unique take on a weird first day."
