It’s more needles than pins for off-radar Rory
WATCHING Rory McIlroy can be a dangerous game these days. Just ask his dad, Gerry. Quite literally, he found himself in the firing line as the Northern Irishman’s Masters misadventures continued yesterday with his worstever opening round at Augusta.
It was bad enough when he opened up with a 75 last November but this was even more depressing as he signed for a 76 that leaves him with yet another second-round battle to be around for the weekend.
What happened at the 7th hole will be recalled in the McIlroy family household for quite some time to come. A wayward drive from McIlroy Jnr had left him needing to manufacture a shot around the Georgia pines, only for him to come up with another miscue. ‘Fore right!’ he screamed. Hitting any spectator with an errant blow is every player’s nightmare but what if the poor soul is your dad, for goodness sake?
At least Gerry could see the funny side, after the ball struck him on the upper thigh. After confirming there was no damage done, he told Sportsmail walking up the ninth: ‘The volunteer marshal on the 7th said I might want to hang around, that he was sure Rory would give me a signed glove.’
Funnily enough, Gerry passed on that option, but the viewing never got any easier during another error-strewn opening day for his out-of-sorts son. Since starting out with a 65 a decade ago, McIlroy has only broken 70 once in the first round, and it quickly became apparent there was no chance of it happening on this occasion.
McIlroy was hardly the only big name or big hitter to falter, mind, as the fast-and-firm conditions favoured the crafty rather than the kapow corps. In November, the relatively short hitters didn’t stand a chance in the soft conditions but, with the further aid of a devilish, soft breeze, here was their redemption.
The first man to reach the sanctuary of the clubhouse having broken 70 was the wily left-hander Brian Harman, a Georgia native who only got into the event courtesy of breaking into the world’s top 50 after finishing tied third at the Players Championship last month.
He was soon joined on 69 by Hideki Matsuyama, the gifted Japanese who has been long saddled with the burden of trying to become the first male golfer from his nation to win a major.
One stroke behind this pair were two more players who rely on guile rather than power: former US Open Champion Webb Simpson, and the promising, consistent newcomer Will Zalatoris, who has finished in the top 30 in ten of his 14 starts this season.
Another to post 70 was Christiaan Bezuidenhout, the 26-year-old from Johannesburg who many shrewd judges believe will become the next great South African golfer.
Given the difficult conditions and the imaginative questions posed, it wasn’t a surprise to see the 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed thrive once more. He has become a more complete player since hooking up with Sir Nick Faldo’s old coach David Leadbetter and learning to harness his driver with more accuracy.
Around the greens, he remains a magician, and he showed off those skills with birdies at the 16th and 17th holes to join the group on 70.
The day’s most spellbinding wizadry, however, came from Justin Rose. The Englishman appeared to be in line for a frustrating opening as he sat two over par through his opening seven holes. Suddenly, though, he burst into life with a sensational spell that saw him go six under through his next six holes, a majestic eagle on the par-five 8th followed up by successive birdies at nine and ten.
A meagre par followed on 11 but Rose displayed more divine intervention with birdies on 12 and 13. So much for the dangers that lurk in Augusta’s fabled Amen Corner.
Further birdies on 15 and 16 opened up a three-shot lead as he approached his final two holes.
But for many, their eyes were firmly on McIlroy, whose problems now appear so ingrained it’s becoming hard to watch. His driving, so long the bedrock of his game when playing well, was offradar, leading to him playing two recovery shots off pine needles in the first three holes. Although he escaped with pars on both occasions, it was hardly the most auspicious of starts.
Ironically, it was following his first straight drive that he ran up his first bogey, at the difficult par four fifth, where his approach shot came up short. He then followed it with a pulled eight iron tee shot for another bogey at the par-three sixth. Then came his third bogey in a row at the fateful 7th.
Just when it looked as if he might be finding a semblance of rhythm, following a birdie at the 8th with two good shots on the 9th, he three-putted from no distance for a dismal opening half of 39 shots.
Even during good times at the Masters, McIlroy has struggled at the 11th hole. His stroke average of 4.33 is his highest for any par four at Augusta. Here, following another pushed drive, his recovery shot found the slope on the fairway that leads inexorably into the water beside the green. After a drop, he had to hole a slippery 20ft putt to drop only one shot.
So to the 13th, the hole where he knew the game was up a decade ago when he collapsed in the final round and shot 80. Slumped over his driver on that occasion, he came up with a mirror image this time as his approach found Rae’s Creek. It led to his sixth bogey in the space of just eight holes.
With a new coach in Pete Cowen and new swing rhythms to try to bed down, this poor showing hardly came as a surprise. The old cliché that Augusta is the place where you show off your game not find it, still holds true.