Rory McIlroy has moved to play down concerns surrounding an injury after he opened with a level par round of 70 at the PGA Championship.
McIlroy was forced to strap an anti-inflammatory patch strapped to his forearm to help alleviate tightness in the muscle.
The World Number 5 admitted he first felt the niggle during the WGC Bridgestone Invitational, but he insisted it did not affect his swing.
McIlroy will resume from level par. Shane Lowry will go into the second day of the tournament as the leading Irish player.
The Offaly man will tee off from 1 under par, following his opening round of 69 in St Louis yesterday. Padraig Harrington is 1 over par, while Paul Dunne is 2 shots further back.
Gary Woodland holds a one shot advantage at the top of the leaderboard on 6 under.
McIlroy is hopeful he can play through the pain."I started feeling it the weekend of Firestone," said the 29-year-old:
"Funny enough, it hurts the most with chipping because I sort of hold the angle a little bit. It's just that the whole forearm has been tight.
"I hit a lot of balls last week at Firestone working on a few things, and it's just a little inflamed and a little tight, but it's fine."
"It wasn't that easy out there, and the scores sort of reflect that, obviously Rickie is at five under and a few guys are at three. I wish I could have taken advantage of the two par-fives, but I gave myself a few chances.
"I finished the round off with nine pars, and it could have been a little better.
"The wind is getting up a little bit and it's sort of swirling, which is making it tricky. I feel like I hit good putts out there today that either didn't want to break or they hit something. So it was tough, and you just had to stay patient."
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