McILROY HOLDS HIS HANDS UP
RORY McILROY admitted his frustrating opening 71 at The Players Championship was a ‘fair reflection’ of his play at TPC Sawgrass yesterday. McIlroy was unable to take full advantage of the friendly, early scoring conditions as he mixed four birdies with three bogeys to sit five shots off the early lead. World No 1 Dustin Johnson and last year’s Masters champion Sergio Garcia were among the group of six players who shot 66 to hold the clubhouse lead as play drew towards a close last night. Shane Lowry was among the later starters, as was Tiger Woods.
SUCH was the blistering form of Justin Rose and Dustin Johnson in the first round at the Players Championship yesterday, it might well be that the sub-plot here of who finishes the week as world number one becomes every bit as compelling as the tournament itself.
Rose needs to win to have any chance of reaching the summit for the first time in his illustrious career, and was delighted with the start he made as he opened with a fine 68.
The bad news came when he looked at the leaderboard, and saw Johnson’s name up in lights at the top, alongside gritty Swede Alex Noren and former US Open champion Webb Simpson, after a fine bogey-free 66.
As well as a victory, Rose needs Johnson to finish outside the top nine and the American, justifiably proud of his 15-month reign at the top, is plainly hell-bent on passing on his end of the bargain.
‘I’ve got to admit I did find myself thinking about the world number one spot after picking up a few shots early on, but not after seeing Dustin move to five under and then six under,’ said Rose.
‘It’s all well and good talking about it, but if he wins he’s off and gone again. I do think, though, we’re in for six months or so where we see the world number one position to-ing and fro-ing, and I’m looking at this period as a real opportunity.’
No wonder, given that his form has been so consistent over the past eight months he’s almost forgotten what it feels like to finish outside the top 10.
The Englishman’s back nine might have felt prosaic following a fabulous opening, where he started par, birdie, eagle, after holing his second shot from 98 yards to the par four 12th. But a birdie at the last meant an afternoon spent in a contented frame of mind.
Johnson (right) is also facing threats to his position from Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm and Jordan Spieth but is in no mood to make it easy for anyone.
‘Justin [Thomas] has been pretty close to me for a while,’ he said. ‘Every week I know there’s a chance that someone can pass me. I definitely want to stay there, but if someone passes me it’s not going to change anything, I’m still going to go back the next week and try to get it back. It was a big deal to get there and it’s a big deal to stay there.’
Of his round yesterday, his lowest score and first bogey-free round at Sawgrass in 31 attempts, Johnson added: ‘I haven’t had the best record here but it’s a golf course that I like, I enjoy playing it and I feel like I should play well here.
‘I felt like it was a really solid day, I drove it really well, hit a lot of greens. I wasn’t too sharp with the irons but was still on the green and rolled the putter pretty well.’
As for the grouping of the three best twentysomethings in the game, Rory McIlroy, Thomas and Spieth failed to generate too many sparks between them.
The sight of Spieth three-putting from five feet at his opening hole set the tone, as the Open champion also put three balls in the water on his way to an awful 75.
He’s only played all four rounds once in four appearances in this event and it’s looking like he’ll be watching the weekend action back home in Texas once more.
Thomas, who has the best chance of bringing Johnson’s reign as world number one to an end, was all over the place as well, with just seven pars on his card, but he finished in credit with a 71, the same score as McIlroy.
‘It was okay, a fair reflection on how I played,’ was the Northern Irishman’s verdict.
For the first time in all his years on the PGA Tour, Rose found himself with two fellow countrymen for company on the opening day, in Ian Poulter and Tommy Fleetwood.
Poulter shot 70 in bizarre fashion, for after an error-free opening nine came an inward half that was anything but, as he played the last eight holes in an equal number of birdies and bogeys. ‘It was annoying, in a word,’ he said. ‘I need to go and forget all about it now, and spend the afternoon with the kids on the beach.’
Tommy Fleetwood, by contrast, got better as the round went on, finishing with three straight birdies for a 69.
‘It’s a shame I can’t keep going, isn’t it?’ he said, cheerfully.