Standing over a four-and-a-half footer for birdie on the par-5 11th, Rory McIlroy was three-under for the round and had barely put a foot wrong in his opening efforts at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera.
And it wasn’t a particularly poor putt either, horseshoeing out but the fact that he’d been aboard in two and had 36 feet for eagle didn’t help matters, but he had seven holes to play and was still in with an outside chance of tracking down clubhouse leader Patrick Cantlay at -7, or at the very least, playing his way into the top-10 which is where he’d have been had that putt not horseshoed out.
But that’s not the way things panned out. He was out of position all the way up the 12th and made bogey, parred 13 and 14, then double-bogeyed 15 after making a mess of his pitch from the greenside rough. Worse was to come, however, as he’d triple bogey the next, unable to get out of the greenside bunker with an awkward lie and stance and then three-putting from inside eight feet.
Birdie at the par-5 17th stopped the bleeding a little, but another poor approach to the last saw him give that shot back and he signed for a three-over 74 that leaves him tied for 64th of 70.
What’s worrying, is that this back nine collapse in the opening round follows something similar at Pebble Beach a fortnight ago, and he leaked oil coming in again on day one at the Dubai Desert Classic two weeks’ previous. The fact that he managed to rebound and win in the Middle East is beside the point, and he’s not cut a particularly happy figure on the course since.
Seamus Power may not have had the rollercoaster route that McIlroy had, but he shot the same total, leaving just four players below them on the leaderboard. It was a case of one step forward, two steps back for the Waterford man who birdied the first, bogeyed two and four, birdied six, then bogeyed the next three to lie at +3 through nine. He’d steady the ship a little on the back side, trading one birdie with one bogey, but like McIlroy, he’ll need to make a considerable improvement on day two if he’s to see any weekend action, needing to be in the top 50 or within 10 shots of the lead to make the cut.
The same goes for Tiger Woods, who battled his way to a one-over 72, though is better placed than both McIlroy and Power to secure his weekend tee time.
Patrick Cantlay is the first round leader at -7, one clear of the chasing trio of Cameron Davis, Luke List and Jason Day, with Jordan Spieth and sponsor’s invite Will Zalatoris among those at -5.
World number one Scottie Scheffler lies tied for 10th at -3 despite his putting troubles showing no signs of abating. Scheffler had reached the three-under number after two holes thanks to a chip-in eagle at the first and a short birdie putt on the second, but he’d miss seven putts from inside 10 feet, including one from just over two feet, and the normally stoic Texan was finding it hard to keep his frustrations under control.
Cantlay had no such issues, and his putter proved to be a very effective weapon as he made eight birdies in his opening 14 holes before dropping his only shot of the day on the 16th.
“Yeah, I thought it was good,” Cantlay said afterwards. “Obviously got off to a great start. Our group had good momentum, Jordan [Spieth] and I were a bunch under on the front nine and, you know, a day where I putted really, really well, made every putt I should have and a couple longer ones. It was a good start.
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