Rory McIlroy will have to do something that has never been done before if he is to join Jack Nicklaus in winning three Players Championship titles after he opened up with a 74 – a score nobody has ever gone on to win from at TPC Sawgrass.
McIlroy teed it up despite struggling with a twinge in his back and he looked out of sorts as he battled his way to a two-over score which leaves him seven shots off the pace set by Maverick McNealy, Lee Hodges, Sahith Theegala, Sepp Straka and Austin Smotherman.
McIlroy lies in a share of 69th place alongside Seamus Power after the West Waterford man and Shane Lowry suffered late blows to take them out of contention.
The golfing Gods made sure to test McIlroy’s back to the limit as he had several awkward stances and lies throughout his day but overall the defending champion felt OK.
“I would say the most discomfort was like when the ball was below my feet or with chipping. Just like getting down a little bit to it. Honestly, overall it was fine. Got a little bit tired at the end of the day, but yeah, it was actually all pretty good.”
McIlroy acknowledged that his preparation had been hampered by his back issues which caused him to not play a practice round pre-tournament.
“I’ve sort of had zero prep. I hit maybe 30 golf balls yesterday and then went and chipped and putted around the last six holes last night. But I felt like from what I experienced yesterday evening in terms of like the golf course and the greens compared to what we played today, it was so different.
“The greens were two feet slower, so much softer just because of the rain. So a little bit of an adjustment there.”
Despite the slow start, McIlroy is hopeful that he can build his way back into the tournament and give himself a chance over the weekend.
“I’m glad I got through the round. Hopefully tonight goes well and I’ll get out there tomorrow, and I was trying to just get back to even par for the day on that back nine. Couldn’t quite get there. But starting with a couple of sort of birdie chances tomorrow on the back, so as I said, try to get it back to even par, and honestly, I don’t feel like I’m that far away.
“No one went really low this afternoon, which I expected them to, just because the conditions were pretty benign. So, yeah, if I can go out and shoot a good one tomorrow, I feel like I’ll be right in it for the weekend.”
As for the Irish charge, Power, a late addition to the field, was going very well at one-under but a late bogey on the 7th, his 16th and a double bogey on the par-5 9th took him to plus two.
His finish wasn’t as painful as the one Lowry had who slumped to a four-over 76.
Lowry missed a catalogue of birdie chances but managed to avoid mistakes and his card was clean with two birdies on the 4th and 11th before late errors added to a difficult couple of weeks.
A four foot par putt slipped by on the 14th and a duffed chip left of the 15th green cost him a double bogey. A birdie chance went begging on the par-5 16th although he repaired some of the damage on the par-3 17th.
However, his day was ruined by yet another watery grave when he put two balls in the hazard on the 18th leading to a closing quadruple bogey 8.
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