Rory McIlroy was derailed by a horrible finish to his first round of this 89th Masters, with two double-bogeys in the closing four holes turning a smooth journey into a tortuous reminder of the demons that lurk in hazards and away from the fairways as England’s Justin Rose posted a superb opening seven-under-par 65 to claim a three shots lead.
For McIlroy, those costly late errors left him slipping to a level-par 72 while Shane Lowry, in some contrast, hung tough with a number of key par saves on the homeward run to rebound from a bogey on the 17th to brilliantly birdie the 18th to post a one-under 71.
The comparison in the two Irishmen was stark. McIlroy declined to speak post-round and, instead, headed straight to the driving range.
Lowry’s demeanour after a bogey on his penultimate hole momentarily fell to fire and brimstone but he’d composed himself by the time he reached the tee, hit a drive that fired its way through the chute of trees and followed with an approach shot to six feet. He rolled in the birdie putt for that 71 which left him tied-11th.
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For much of his round, after suffering the shock of hitting an underground root with his approach to the first, Lowry got the most out of his game and turned two under. But, ironically, he felt he played better on a homeward run that saw him bogey both the 10th and 17th without birdieing either of the two par-5s, the 13th and 15th. Still, he closed with a birdie on 18th to make dinner taste that much better.
“I was fuming walking off 17 green to be honest because I had worked so hard to stay under par. It was just the sloppiest bogey of all time,” said Lowry of a heavy-handed greenside chip that ran eight feet by the hole, adding: “But to birdie the last was nice. I think Justin Rose went a bit crazy today, but this golf course is not giving anything. It’s firm. This golf course is going to play tough over the next few days.”
A target?
“No, you can’t do anything around here. Just take one hole at a time and see what it gives you. I think patience is the key. Like you can be having an average day and you can make a few birdies in the last few holes and it feels good,” said Lowry.
“I feel [in] Major championships, somebody shoots a low score first round every time, no matter how hard the golf course is. The best players in the world are playing it, so someone is going to get hot and shoot a good score. But I’ll be interested to see what the scoring does from here.
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“But this golf course, honestly, it’s so firm and fast; that 15th green, by Sunday I don’t know what we’re going to do to try and stop the ball on the green. It’s very, very firm.”
McIlroy’s post-round silence actually spoke volumes. All year, with two wins already in the bag at the Pebble Beach and The Players, one of McIlroy’s feats has been to keep big numbers off the scorecard and, at four under in the middle of the 15th fairway, he was right where he needed to be.
However, McIlroy’s approach to firm green kicked through the back and then his pitch ran and ran so that it went through the green and down the slope into the hazard. Before he knew it, a double-bogey seven was his and that error was compounded by another double-bogey on the 17th.
Rose, meanwhile, continued an extraordinary career performance in the first round of the Masters by assuming the 18 hole lead for a fifth time carrying a three shots lead over Scottie Scheffler, Corey Conners and Ludvig Aberg.
