G-Mac shines as Rory and Tiger prove hit and miss
GRAEME McDowell upstaged Rory McIlroy’s high-octane clash with Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas when he opened with a confidence-boosting 69 in the Genesis Open at a firm and fast Riviera last night.
Ranked 219th in the world, win-less since 2015 and coming off three successive missed cuts to start the year, the Portrush man (38) had an encouraging opening round in Los Angeles.
Tied with Thomas, who also shot 69 to McIlroy’s level-par 71 and Woods’ 72, G-Mac desperately needs a good week to boost his self-esteem.
He got off to a lovely start, two-putting comfortably for birdie at the first before chipping in from 50 feet for a two at the 230-yard fourth.
McDowell might have missed his first three cuts of 2018, but there were few signs of rust as he saved par from eight feet at the fifth, then rolled in a 12-footer at the seventh for another birdie to move into the early lead.
He eventually dropped a shot at the 13th, where he missed the green and failed to get up and down. But it was a solid perfor12th mance, and so was McIlroy’s despite enjoying little luck with the putter.
The good news is that the Holywood star managed to avoid three-putting on the treacherously quick poa annua greens.
But he got little reward for some great ball-striking and apart from the 27-footer he drained for an eagle three at his 10th hole to get back to level-par, the longest putts he holed were a couple of four-footers for par.
McIlroy needed no putts at all at his opening hole — the driveable 10th — where he looked likely to make bogey after he hit his three-wood into the rough right of the green and bunkered his pitch.
But just when a par looked highly unlikely, he could only grin sheepishly when he holed out for an unlikely birdie three that was matched by both Woods and Thomas, who had laid up with irons.
McIlroy and Woods then mixed the sublime with the frustrating for the rest of the day.
Struggling from the tee early on but putting well, the American lost a ball in a eucalyptus tree at the par-five 11th and made an ugly double-bogey seven, then followed a bogey at the
Tough work: Rory McIlroy had an up-and-down day but Graeme McDowell (inset) started well
with a birdie from 13 feet at the 13th.
After another poor drive at the 15th put him two-over again, he birdied the 608-yard 17th from five feet to turn in oneover, then came home in level with birdies at the first and eighth cancelled out by dropped shots at the fifth and seventh.
“I made a lot of birdies but also some silly bogeys,” Woods said after his 72.
“It’s playing tough. The greens are firming up and that first hop is amazing, especially
coming downwind. But I fought back.”
A poor wedge that flew the green from 103 yards cost McIlroy a shot at the 11th but after pulling his 193-yard approach to the 12th to drop another shot, he was puffing out his cheeks after missing birdie chances inside 10 feet at the 13th and 16th.
After another short iron went long at the 17th and he bogeyed after flubbing a tough chip, he was two-over for the day.
Yet while he sparked back into life with that eagle three
from 26 feet at the downhill, par-five first, he hit some glorious shots coming home for no reward.
Pádraig Harrington started by rapping in a 47-footer for eagle at the first but while he birdied the 10th, dropped shots at the fourth, ninth, and 15th saw him finish alongside McIlroy with a 71.
Shane Lowry struggled for momentum as he mixed two birdies with four bogeys in a two-over 73 and has work to do to make the cut. CONTINUED FROM BACK PAGE Individual daily attendance figures at The Open Championship regularly top 40,000. In 2014, when Rory McIlroy collected the Claret Jug at Hoylake, 42,000 came through the gates. Just imagine the clamour for tickets if he finds himself in contention on the final day at Royal Portrush next year?
Given that the Irish Open in 2012 at the same venue was a sell-out, with over 130,000 attending, R&A officials are now pondering a move which would be a first in the history of the celebrated Major championship.
R&A Chief Executive Martin Slumbers said the issue was being given ‘serious consideration’.
“It’s not just the compactness (of the site), but what do fans really want, which is they want to get as close to the players as they possibly can, and that plays into how many people can we actually physically get into the complex, into the course and give them that experience. And so there’s a lot of work being done on that we haven’t concluded yet,” he said.
“I think there will be also a lot of Americans there, especially for the first time. I think it could be a big crowd. And if Rory keeps playing well, it’ll be an even bigger crowd.”
Last year’s Open at Royal Birkdale, won by American Jordan Spieth, attracted record crowds for an Open on English soil with 235,000 people attending during tournament week which includes the practice days. It was the third highest ever, falling shy of the St Andrews Opens of 2000 (239,000) and 2015 (237,000).
Work is continuing apace at Royal Portrush to install the infrastructure needed to host the event next July, which is set to include daily seating for approximately 20,000 spectators.