Poulter sitting pretty as Rory falters
iAn PoULtER made a strong start to the opening round of the PgA tour’s RBC heritage event — on another day to forget for Rory Mcilroy.
Poulter fired a seven-under-par 64 for an early share of the lead at hilton head, South Carolina. the Englishman, who finished tied for 29th at last week’s Charles Schwab Challenge — the tour’s first tournament back after the coronavirus shutdown — turned in a flawless display with seven birdies and no bogeys on his card.
the 44-year-old, who won the last of his three PgA titles in 2018, had shared his discomforting Covid-19 test on twitter on Wednesday, but will be glad he put himself through the process.
he said: ‘it’s very important being bogey free. Any time you shoot seven under par on this golf course, it’s a pretty solid day. it’s a great course. i love coming here. it’s a fiddly, testy, tricky golf course.’
his playing partner Sebastian Munoz also fared well, sitting one stroke back on six under alongside Viktor hovland and Michael thompson, while American Mark hubbard matched Poulter’s 64.
But world no 1 Rory Mcilroy had a difficult day. the northern irishman, who had questioned the wisdom of some Europeans like tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari in deciding not to travel to the United States due to quarantine concerns, could only manage a one-over par 72. Mcilroy, who had a last-round meltdown at Colonial last week to fall out of contention, was among those who struggled, and only a pair of birdies on the back nine kept it from being worse.
his 72 ended a streak of seven straight tournaments in which he broke par in the opening round, dating to the ZoZo Championship in Japan last october.
At least the 30-year- old kept it entertaining. on the par-five 15th, he tried to hit a slice from behind a tree and carry it over more oaks from 275 yards away. it didn’t quite come off, leaving him blocked by the trees, so he tried to hook the next one around the trees. that got caught up close to a bunker, and he made bogey.
‘i’m sort of missing my threewood left and missing my driver right,’ Mcilroy said. ‘if you’re in any way in two minds what to do off the tees here and get a little bit sort of guidey, it can bite you.’
Sheffield’s Matthew Fitzpatrick was in a chasing pack on five under, alongside Jordan Spieth, while Brooks Koepka was among those on four under, with Englishman Matt Wallace on three under.
And the 50-plus gang more than held its own, with Ernie Els tied for the lead at one point before settling for a 67 and 61-year- old Bernhard Langer shooting a 69.