Matt McCarty rewrote a small slice of PGA Tour history at Quail Hollow on Thursday, firing an eight-under 63 to lead the opening round of the 2026 Truist Championship and becoming the first player in the PGA Tour's ShotLink era to hole three putts of more than 50 feet in a single round.
The 28-year-old left-hander made eight birdies and a single bogey on a Charlotte course that has bared its teeth at far more decorated names. He arrived at the $20 million signature event in form, having strung together three consecutive top-12 finishes, and turned that quiet momentum into an outright lead by sundown.
Only one PGA Tour title sits on McCarty's CV so far, the Black Desert Championship he won as a rookie in 2024. A second is now within reach at one of the most demanding venues on the calendar, on a week where the field has gathered in the shadow of next week's PGA Championship at Aronimink.
South Korea's Sungjae Im kept McCarty honest at seven under, with a 64 of his own. Behind that pair, a logjam of contenders posted five-under 66s, including Denmark's Nicolai Hojgaard, Norway's Kristoffer Reitan, Canada's Nick Taylor, England's Harry Hall and Austria's Sepp Straka.
Tommy Fleetwood and Alex Fitzpatrick anchored the next group at four under after matching 67s, with Cameron Young, the recent Cadillac Championship winner, a stroke further back at three under. The man with the deepest history at this venue, four-time Quail Hollow champion Rory McIlroy, found Round 1 a grind. The Masters winner ground out 17 consecutive pars before finally making his only birdie on the final hole to sign for an even-par 71. McIlroy is making his first start since slipping into a green jacket at Augusta.
McCarty's putter was the engine of the day. Three different bombs from outside 50 feet found the bottom of the cup — a feat ShotLink had never previously catalogued in a single round since the system began tracking strokes-gained data in 2003. He also kept his ball-striking tidy enough to give himself a steady stream of birdie looks from inside it, the combination that produces 63s on a course where 70 is a perfectly respectable score.
Quail Hollow's reputation typically rests on its closing stretch — the Green Mile, the par-three 17th over water and the brutal par-four 18th — that has decided so many editions of the Wells Fargo Championship and the 2017 PGA Championship. McCarty navigated all three without damage, the kind of finish that turns a hot round into a tournament-defining one.
Three rounds remain at Quail Hollow, with weather forecasts threatening to disrupt the rhythm later in the week. Whatever the conditions deliver, McCarty wakes Friday with a name that, until now, sat well below the marquee — and a cushion of one shot on the world's best, with the PGA Championship calendar pressing in around him.