Golf

Rory McIlroy anything but boring as 10 birdies propel him into the lead at The Players

Northern Irishman joins Olympic champion Xander Schauffele in a tie for the clubhouse lead at Sawgrass

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland walks off the 16th tee during the first round of The Players Championship. Photograph: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland walks off the 16th tee during the first round of The Players Championship. Photograph: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
Philip Reid
Thu Mar 14 2024 - 18:53

Rory McIlroy doesn’t do boring, not by a long shot. He again brought the X-Factor to The Players in an opening round that showed both perfection and imperfection, as the world number two magically conjured up 10 birdies – equalling the record for any round at TPC Sawgrass – but also had self-inflicted damage with two water balls in signing for a first round seven-under-par 65 to join Olympic champion Xander Schauffele for the clubhouse lead.

Without a top-20 in four starts on the PGA Tour so far this season, McIlroy’s improved iron play gave him numerous birdie opportunities in a round played with barely any breeze. A winner of the PGA Tour’s flagship tournament in 2019, McIlroy was dialled-in from the get-go with three straight birdies to start – on the 10th, 11th and 12th – and was six-under on his card through eight holes before finding water down the left of the 18th fairway which led to his first dropped shot.

He’d added a further three birdies on his homeward run, on the second, fourth and sixth, before again finding water on the par four seventh hole where his drive leaked left and finished in the lake.

Indeed, the decision-making on where his ball had crossed the hazard line led to a long discussion with both the rules official and with playing partners Viktor Hovland and Jordan Spieth also involved and, at times, seemingly not entirely happy with the drop point.

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Neither Hovland nor Spieth spoke to media about the incident afterwards, in which McIlroy ran up a double-bogey six before managing to close out his round with a birdie on the par five ninth hole to finish his round for a 65, but the Northern Irishman was comfortable with the decision on where he took the drop, claiming that it was a “blind spot” given how the fairway sloped down to the lake.

“I was adamant that I saw it bounce above the red line, but then when someone comes in and says, ‘well, someone thought that it didn’t’ then it just puts some doubt in your mind. Again, it’s up to you to be comfortable enough with your decision that you did see what you saw, I guess ... so, yeah. I’m comfortable. I think that’s the most important thing,” said McIlroy.

“I feel like I’m one of the most conscientious golfers out here, so if I feel like I’ve done something wrong, it’ll play on my conscience for the rest of the tournament. I’m a big believer in karma, and if you do something wrong, I feel like it’s going to come around and bite you at some point.

“I obviously don’t try to do anything wrong out there and play by the rules and do the right thing. I feel like I obviously did that those two drops (on 18 and seven).”

The last few holes were not kind to his fellow group players. Hovland double-bogeyed his closing hole for a 73 while Spieth had two bogeys in his closing three holes and the handshakes on the finishing greens appeared functional.

In fairness to McIlroy, he took his time over where to make the drop and consulted with a PGA Tour referee on the matter. And, to his credit, he recovered from the double-bogey to make a fine up-and-down after driving into the trees on the closing hole to finish with a birdie and join Schauffele on seven-under.

“It’s probably been one of my best [competitive] days in a while, which is really nice. The feeling is good with the irons, and the feeling with the driver and the 3-wood is just a little bit different, but as long as I remind myself on the tee box that ‘okay, this is a wood, and I get on the fairway’, and ‘this is an iron’, and I’ve got two different feels and two different thoughts, then it’s okay. It was much, much improved on the approach play today, which was nice to see,” said McIlroy, whose 10 birdies in a round matched his feat in the closing round in winning the 2022 Canadian Open.

Schauffele’s round lacked any such drama or debate. The American impressively carded seven birdies without a bogey for his 65, although he did manage a superb par save on the seventh – with McIlroy and co delayed on the tee behind – as he took what he called a “high risk shot” up and over the trees to short of the green and make his up and down to save par.

“I would not want to hit the shot again,” he quipped of his eight-iron Houdini shot.

Philip Reid

Philip Reid

Philip Reid is Golf Correspondent of The Irish Times