A ROLLER COASTER JOURNEY FOR RORY
Finishing bogey-bogey summed up his erratic day
ALL those self-help manuals, the meditation and the juggling skills must have come in handy last night as Rory McIlroy digested a roller-coaster first round at the 83rd Masters.
Two over par after 12 holes, the 29-year-old was in danger of seeing his career Grand Slam bid derailed on the opening day. He looked as if he had regained some momentum when he played his way back into red figures with three spirited birdies in a four-hole stretch.
But an ugly bogey-bogey finish was in keeping with an erratic performance and he finished with a disappointing 73.
McIlroy was playing in the group behind Tiger Woods and, for much of an insightful first day, his edgy display was in contrast to the American’s assuredness. Woods opened with a fine 70 that left him just a shot off the early lead.
McIlroy was frustrated not to have posted a better score. He said: ‘I felt the course was there. It’s soft, there’s not much wind. I made five birdies, that wasn’t the problem. I just made too many mistakes.
‘I’m going to the putting green now to try and figure this out. I over-read a few early on then started under-reading them coming in.’
Conditions could hardly have been more conducive to good scoring, with soft fairways, little wind early on and warm sunshine. Against that, the green jackets put the flags in difficult places, meaning any score under 70 was hard-earned.
First to do that was in-form
South African Justin Harding, who was soon followed by former Masters champion Adam Scott and then Spaniard Jon Rahm, who coped well with the fanfare of playing alongside Woods.
Americans JB Holmes, Gary Woodland and Rickie Fowler shot rounds of 70, while Tommy Fleetwood signed for a 71.
There was a horrible sense of deja vu when McIlroy’s opening drive spiralled out of control and into the trees on the right. Twelve months ago, he had stood on this tee in the final round against Patrick Reed, and hit one on the same line but even worse.
As it did on that earlier occasion, it told you something about the nerves the Northern Irishman was feeling, as did his following blow from the pine straw, which caught an overhanging branch and finished well short of the green. A chip and two putts later, and he had his first bogey.
A chance to rectify the damage passed him by at the par-five second but a good chip at the short par-four third resulted in a birdie. The hope this would settle McIlroy down, however, didn’t materialise as mistakes continued to hinder his progress.
The start of the fabled back nine has caused McIlroy plenty of fits over the years and he was in danger of losing touch when he added two more bogeys to his poor career stats on the tenth and 11th.
He needed to take advantage of the opportunity on offer at the par-five 13th and did so to get back to one over with a two-putt birdie. A wonderful second shot to eight feet at the 14th gave him a chance for some momentum, but he was walking after the putt as soon as he hit it, in the sure knowledge it had been pulled.
He pulled his tee shot at the par-five 15th as well, and let out a loud sigh as his ball headed towards woodland on the left. But he saw a gap in the trees for his second shot, and took advantage with a fine shot to 20 feet. He two-putted to get back to parity for his round.
The value of staying patient was shown at the next when he holed a 30-foot putt for a birdie. Suddenly he was on one under and in sight of the leaders.
Usually his strong suit, McIlroy’s driving caused him problems again at the 17th, and he paid the price with another bogey. Likewise off the tee at the 18th, but he was lucky to find some space between the trees on the left. His shot to the green was followed by an uphill chip to the pin which finished ten feet away. The putt slipped past and McIlroy finished one-over.
Fleetwood might have been slightly disappointed with his
score after negotiating the front nine in 34 shots. The tone was set from the off, with a 50-foot putt at the first to 18 inches.
A birdie at the second was followed by another at the seventh to be in good shape as he turned for home. The 28-year-old bogeyed the tenth, though, and no birdie followed at the 13th. A bogey at the 14th and he was in danger of losing all his gains, but a birdie at the 15th followed by three pars kept him in red figures. Scott won the Masters in 2013 and has had a new lease of life this year, benefiting on the greens by being able to leave the flagsticks in the holes. The 38-year-old feels that focusing on the slimness of the stick makes the hole appear bigger, and it certainly appeared the size of a bucket over the final holes as he birdied three of the last four.
‘I thought I played well but the flags were in such difficult places I couldn’t see many birdies out there until I had some good numbers in the last few holes,’ said the Queenslander.
Harding came here for his Masters debut as the form horse on the European Tour, with a maiden win in Qatar and a runner-up finish in the Kenyan Open. This was on a different level but the 33-year-old acquitted himself well to become the first player to break 70.
Lucas Bjerregaard went into the recent WGC-Match Play in Texas as Europe’s best-kept secret but that changed with his quarter-final win over Woods, on his way to finishing fourth overall. The good vibes continued here with his two-under-par score.