Rory McIlroy faced tough conditions for his opening round at the Texas Children’s Houston Open at Memorial Park, as heavy rain and struggles accompanied him for the first nine holes.
The world number two and two-time PGA Tour winner in 2025 looked a little out of sorts in the early stages, having to scramble for par on the each of the first four holes before finally dropping a shot after another missed green on 14 – his fifth.
He’d find the green in regulation on each of the next four, but couldn’t convert a birdie putt and made the turn at +1.
He took advantage of both par-5s on the front, making birdie, but dropped a shot on the fourth to record a level-par opener that was a little frustrating.
“Yeah, a little pedestrian, I guess is a good way to describe it,” he said. “Yeah, we sort of had to deal with those conditions early on, rainy and not too pleasant to play in. Made a few par saves early on that I needed to and then had quite a few chances on the second nine there that I didn’t convert.
“So yeah, sort of tale of two halves, felt like I was scrambling for the most part on the first nine and then yeah, I feel like I left a couple out there on the last nine.”
McIlroy’s recent victory at The Players Championship came despite struggling a little off the tee at times, but he felt that he struck the ball much better as the round progressed on Thursday.
“I drove it better once I got my rain gear off,” he explained. “Couldn’t really find the middle of the club face for the first few holes. Yeah, once it brightened up and as the conditions got a little better, I felt like I drove it pretty well.”
This is his first visit to Memorial Park, and he feels there are positives and negatives to be gleaned from facing a golf course for the first time – something that he doesn’t get to experience that often having been on tour for so long and playing a familiar schedule.
“It’s a double edged sword,” he shrugged. “It’s nice to come to places that you don’t know and having to learn a new golf course is sort of — I don’t do it all that often anymore so it’s nice to be able to do it again.
“But then there are in-built advantages to going back to a course for a lot of years and just knowing where to miss it, where not to, especially on a course like this where the green complexes are quite — you sort of have to know them and know where the misses are.
“Yeah, I mean, I think a little bit of experience around this course isn’t a bad thing and I’m sort of just trying to learn as I go along.”
McIlroy’s level-par tally leaves him in the upper half of the morning wave, and both Padraig Harrington and Seamus Power are among the later starters.
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