Thursday evening witnessed Rory McIlroy leaving Hazeltine National. The player was contended with an opening-round 71 on his US PGA Championship debut.

McIlroy, who belongs to Northern Ireland and is just 20-year-old, holds rank 29 in the world. He gave a strong initial performance on the the par-72, 7,674-yard Minnesota course, the longest in major championship history, sinking three birdies in his first six holes having started on the back nine.

The Dubai Desert Classic winner played rather well to come home with eight consecutive pars, despite when two bogeys followed around the turn.

McIlroy expressed, "I felt as if it was a very solid round. It was quite the opposite to what I was playing like last week, which was nice to turn it around."