There was an excited buzz on the first competition day at the Philadelphia Cricket Club (Wissahickon) for the 2025 Truist Championship. Philadelphia is hosting this year’s edition of the Truist Championship as the tournament’s usual home, Quail Hollow Club in North Carolina, is preparing to host next week’s PGA Championship.
Delaware Valley golf fans gleefully flocked to the beautiful golf course in Flourtown, Pennsylvania, to watch golf stars like Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, and many more on Thursday afternoon. While the morning started with the looming threat of storms that delayed opening tee times, it was a perfect 77-degree spring afternoon for most of the afternoon during the first day at the 21st event in the FedExCup regular season.
Keith Mitchell leads with a bogey-free 61, which is his career-low 18-hole score on the PGA TOUR. It is the fourth time Mitchell leads/co-leads on the TOUR, and his three first-round leads/co-leads are the most of any player on the TOUR this season.
“It’s a great golf course,” Mitchell said after his round. “Love playing it. Definitely old school. We don’t play a ton of these. It’s nice to have that as a little refresher out here.” Mitchell received one of four sponsor exemptions restricted to PGA Tour members to participate in the 2025 Truist Championship. He learned he’d be playing at the 2025 Truist Championship “give or take a week-ish ago.”
Denny McCarthy currently sits in second place at 62 and 8-under. Morikawa finished the opening round at 63 and 7-under. The California-born golfer is tied with several other pros on the leaderboard, including Rickie Fowler, who opened with six birdies in his first seven holes before finishing at 63.
FedEx Cup leader and defending Truist champion, McIlroy, opened with a 66 and tied for 24th place at 4-under. He is looking for his fifth career win at the Truist Championship, with four wins (2010, 2015, 2021, 2024) coming at the tournament’s typical venue in North Carolina. The PGA TOUR’s second-ranked golfer was shown a ton of love as he strolled down the Philadelphia Cricket Club fairways on Thursday.
“It was amazing,” McIlroy said. “It was really nice. We got a really nice crowd out there.” The UK-born athlete is familiar with Philly’s sports reputation. “I think any time we do come to Philly, it’s a great sports town obviously, and people do get behind obviously their teams, but also the events that are brought here… the energy has always been great.”
A weather alert has been provided for individuals attending the 2025 Truist Championship on Friday morning. Tee times have been adjusted to approximately 8 — 10:01 a.m. ET. Golfers will tee off in groups like they did today, with rain expected to move through the area. As of Thursday evening, Saturday is expected to see golfers tee off at the same time, while the final round on Sunday is scheduled to begin at approximately 7:30 a.m. ET.
Philadelphia area golf fans can follow @TruistChamp on X for real-time weather updates.
