Rory McIlroy put his recent dismal record at the PLAYERS Championship to shame with a blistering round of 65 to take the early lead at TPC Sawgrass although it was not without controversy.
McIlroy carded a tournament best ten birdies on Thursday on his way to the summit on seven-under as he briefly flirted with Tom Hoge’s course record 63 after moving to eight-under through fifteen holes, before his tee shot on the 7th (his 16th) found a watery grave, which is when the drama ensued and overshadowed his early birdie burst.
A long discussion broke out among McIlroy, Viktor Hovland and Jordan Spieth as to whether the tee shot landed beyond the penalty area line, the Holywood man believed it landed in bounds before bouncing into the water.
It was a rules debacle that McIlroy won but it did cost him a double bogey and a potential record round. It was also his second tee shot to dive left and find water, after taking a bogey on the par-4 18th earlier in the round.
“I think Jordan was just trying to make sure that I was doing the right thing. I mean, I was pretty sure that my ball had crossed where I was sort of dropping it. It’s so hard, right, because there was no TV evidence. I was adamant. But I think, again, he was just trying to make sure that I was going to do the right thing.
“If anything, I was being conservative with it. I think at the end of the day we’re all trying to protect ourselves, protect the field, as well. I wouldn’t say it was needless. I think he was just trying to make sure that what happened was the right thing.”
While the 65 puts paid to a record of MC, 33, MC since his win in 2019, McIlroy’s frustrating habit of making out of context big numbers continued despite his brilliance, finding the water after making a run of birdies and had it not been for a remarkable bogey on 18, he might have slipped down the leaderboard.
“It would be nice to shoot 62 and not have two in the water, I guess,” he joked.
“I didn’t have many expectations going out there today because I was like, okay, feels good on the range and feels good in practice, but let’s see how it is when you’ve got a card in your hand.
“There’s something to be said for that, just sort of lessening the expectations a little bit and going out there and seeing what happens. But yeah, it was obviously a great start.”
The four-time major winner looked in ominous form early on, roaring out of the traps with three successive birdies as he took advantage of a vulnerable course.
After struggling with his approach play in recent weeks, the Northern Irishman was purring with his irons, clipping a wedge to 5 feet on the 10th before cracking a long iron from 226 yards into the heart of the par-5 11th. He rolled in a five footer for a third straight birdie on 12 before his improved approaches saw him hole from 14-feet, two putt from 26-feet and hole from 6 feet on the par-3 17th to make the turn in 31.
Three birdies in four holes on the 2nd, 4th and 6th moved him to -8 and within a shot of Home’s course record before that controversial double bogey. He finished with a closing birdie to grab a share of the lead with Xander Schauffele.
“I’m not sure how the strokes gained approach stats look like, but it’s probably been one of my best days in a while, which is really nice,” said McIlroy who at the time of writing, ranks 2nd in strokes gained approach, 105th off the tee and leads the field in putting.
“Yeah, 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.”
He labelled Sunday a ‘wake up call’ and after spending hours grinding on the range in preparation for this week it paid dividends.
“I needed to clean up the technique a little bit, needed to clean up some things. Honestly, just needed to put the time in. I think when you play — I’ve wanted to play a lot to start this year, and I have, but when you play a lot, you don’t maybe get the time to practice all that much. At the same time, say I had a decent day on Sunday at Bay Hill and shot 70, for sure I would have taken Monday off here. But because of not shooting a decent score, I grinded on the range and figured something out and put the time in, and it’s sort of already reaping benefits, so that’s nice.”
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