McIlroy a long way off Nicklaus’ victory handshake

Bernie McGuire
|
|

Rory McIlroy (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

Bernie McGuire

Feature Interviews

Latest Stories

Rory McIlroy has much work to do if he’s to be greeted late on Sunday by tournament host, Jack Nicklaus after posting a surprising 75 on the opening day of the Memorial in Dublin, Ohio.

McIlroy managed just two birdies but sadly soured his round with a pair of double-bogeys and a bogey on a day that promised so much for the Holywood star.

The effort saw the World No. 6 head to the Muirfield Village clubhouse then sharing a lowly 68th place before eventually finishing a massive 10 shots behind American Ryan Moore and in a tie for 88th position.

play-sharp-fill

Moore, 36 is a five-time Tour winner and looking to end a near three-year winless drought and capped his round with four birdies in succession from his fourth hole.

McIlroy was grouped in the star three-ball alongside fellow Major winners, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, with Spieth shooting a ‘return to form’ 66 that included moving to tie Moore with an eagle on his 14th but only to bogey his 17th.

It is a third event running the Dallas-born Spieth has began to show the form that’s earned him three Majors.

“To shoot six-under around Jack’s place I think I have bested that once in my life, so I am very pleased,” said Spieth.

“I managed to hit 12 of 14 fairways and while the fairways are a little wider here, you just can’t miss them.

“The key was I lined-up on some straighter lines and played tighter curves rather than what I have been doing and that has been lining-up on the edges of the fairways and try to curve them all the way back.

“So, that was good strategy today.”

Five-time Memorial winner, Tiger Woods finished birdie, bogey, birdie and birdie in a round of 70 that sees him in a share of 23rd heading into round two.

“My round was really, really close and I was just a couple of yards away from maybe being five or six under,” he said.

“So, it could have easily flipped and I could have got a few more birdies out of my round.”

McIlroy is making an eighth appearance in the event hosted by legendary Jack Nicklaus but his opening day effort in the €8.2m event continues a Memorial trend where McIlroy has thrown-in a big score at least once over the four rounds.

McIlroy shot a 79 on day two to miss the cut in 2012, a 78 on day one in 2013, and also a 78 on day four in 2014 while there was his first round 74 a year ago en route to a share of eighth.

In fairness, McIlroy has thrown in a couple of low ones too, including a first round 63 in 2015 and a third day 64 a year ago.

Though any thoughts of replicating those two rounds was spoilt again by the shortest club in McIlroy’s bag that handed the 30-year old the headache of 36 putts.

And the longest club wasn’t all that hot either with McIlroy hitting just nine of 14 fairways.

McIlroy got his round off to a positive start in holing a 10-footer for birdie at the par-4 10th before it began turning pear-shaped at the tight and uphill par-5 15th where he hit a poor drive left into trees. With no spectators allowed down the left side, McIlroy could not locate his ball within the now 3-minute ‘search’ period and had to take a penalty drop.

When McIlroy finally found his way to the green, he three-putted from less than 10-feet for his double-bogey ‘7’.

A bogey at his eighth dropped McIlroy to two-over and he then slumped to four-over at his 11th when McIlroy found trees right and again had to chip-out sideways.

Unfortunately, McIlroy’s ‘recovery’ shot crossed the fairway into rough ahead of finding the green in three, before three-putting from 17-feet.

There was just a second birdie at his 13th in getting up-and-down from a greenside bunker for a ‘4’ before ending his day with four pars.

And as if to sum-up McIlroy’s day, he looked at Spieth somewhat sarcastically when his 19-foot birdie putt at his 18th just missed the hole.

Stay ahead of the game. Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest Irish Golfer news straight to your inbox!

More News

Bushnell Golf introduces upgraded Pro X3+ Laser Rangefinder

Equipment / New Gear, Equipment & Apparel, Lasers / GPS Units

Leave a comment


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy & Terms of Service apply.