Rory McIlroy played his final six holes in three-over-par to fall nine behind early leader Daniel Berger after the opening round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.
McIlroy was among the later starters on day one of an event that he’s made hay at in recent years, and was moving along nicely, picking off birdies on both par-5s on the front side and another on the par-4 ninth which offset the only dropped shot on the nine which came on five.
Two good par-saving putts on 10 and 11 – after his lengthy birdie putts came up well short – kept the momentum going, and when he two-putted for another par-5 birdie on 12, he moved to three-under for the day which was an excellent return in the tougher afternoon conditions.
But disaster struck on the 13th where, after splitting the fairway with his tee shot, he attacked the back-right pin but pushed his wedge, finding the hazard that guards the entire right side of the green.
From the dropzone, he couldn’t get up and down and eventually made a double-bogey-six.
The galling error seemed to rattle him, and he overshot the green on the par-3 14th, and though he played an excellent bunker shot to give himself just over four feet for par, his putter failed him and in the blink of an eye, he was back to level-par.
He regrouped to birdie the par-5 16th, completing the par-5 set for the day, but then gave that shot back on the last after pulling his approach into the greenside bunker, ending the day on level-par and tied for 33rd.
It was a day of similar frustration for Shane Lowry, who was looking to bounce back after Sunday’s disappointment at the Cognizant Classic.
Lowry started brightly and got his first birdie on the card on the par-5 fourth where a stroke of fortune saw his ball ricochet onto the green after he pulled his second shot well left. That was the end of the fortune, however, and birdie chances came and went on each of the next four holes as good putts simply refused to drop.
A mistake off the tee on nine cost him his first bogey of the day, and he dropped another on 10 before holing out from the greenside bunker on 11 to claw his way back to level-par.
But he still couldn’t get the putts to drop, and he missed from 12 feet for birdie on 12, from six feet for par on 14 and 15, and from 18 feet for birdie on 16 which proved to be the easiest hole on the course in round one.
He finally got one to drop on 17, the birdie taking him back to +1, but he too found the greenside bunker on 18 and, like McIlroy, it cost him a closing bogey and he lies tied for 52nd at +2.
Berger too has enough history at Bay Hill to know what kind of test to expect. He made nine birdies, all but one of them inside 10 feet, for a nine-under 63 and a round no one was expecting, including himself – he would later go on to say that it was one of the best three rounds of his career and the statistics actually backed that up; it was his second best ever.
Berger posted his bogey-free round in the morning and by the end of the day, he had a three-shot lead and a score that was nearly nine shots better than the average of the 72-man field.
“If I had to compare it would probably be the 2018 U.S. Open. I shot, I don’t know, 3-, 4-under at Shinnecock on Saturday and went from 60th to tied for the lead,” Berger said when asked exactly how good his round had been. “So it has that U.S. Open kind of feel to it. I think the course is just going to get tougher as the week goes on. The greens are going to get firmer. As you can see on 18, there’s a little bit of reception when you’re hitting a wedge in there, and I just, I don’t think that’s going to last. So, yeah, just hit it in the fairway and try to make as many putts as you can.”
Collin Morikawa had a finish he could have used last year when he was runner-up. He was middle of the pack until closing eagle-birdie-birdie for a 66. He shares second with Ludvig Åberg, whose round should be considered as impressive as what Berger did.
Åberg played in the afternoon when the greens looked more yellow, the wind began to gust and swirl, and storm clouds gathered without really threatening. He hit a 5-iron to 25 feet for eagle on the par-5 12th and shot 66, three shots better than anyone who played late.
Scottie Scheffler’s recent spate of poor starts came to an end as the world number one shot a two-under round of 70 that leaves him tied for 18th with 54 holes to go at a venue where he’s a two-time winner.
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