CROMWELL, Ind. — Rory McIlroy finished his first round at the Travelers Championship at the top of the leaderboard at -8.
The No. 2-ranked player in the world, fighting off a sinus bug, started on the back nine at TPC River Highlands and shot a bogey-free round. That included a 47-foot birdie putt on the par-4 seventh that helped him move past Xander Schauffele and Martin Laird, who each shot 63.
Despite the great start, Mallory sounded focused in his approach to the tournament, while he still had a lot to say about the PGA vs. LIV controversy.
"I'm not going out to try to prove anything to anyone. I'm in a good run of form," said Mcllroy. "Whether that gives me more confidence to speak up on certain issues, maybe. I'm just going out there trying to play my game and trying to win some more tournaments."
Mcllroy continued his theme from yesterday speaking on true motivations for former PGA players to turn to the LIV Golf tour.
"There's only one reason the guys are going to the other side is because there's an opportunity to make more money," said Mcllroy. "What the other guys do doesn't affect me all I can do is go in and play the best possible golf, be a good person, be a good dad, be a good husband, that's all I do."
Mcllroy also addressed reports of him being slightly under the weather coming into tournament play but he quickly shot it down of any consequence.
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"Nothing to be concerned about," said Mcllroy.
Mcllroy will be teeing off for the second round on Friday at 1:00 p.m.
Daniel Dashefsky is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at ddashefsky@fox61.com.
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