Mcilroy fires a 63 for lead in Mexico
Irishman cruises in the first round as Woods struggles with slow start
Rory Mcilroy flirted with a hole-in-one on the same par 4 where Tiger Woods hit out-ofbounds with his first shot in Mexico.
That’s about how their days went Thursday in the Mexico Championship.
Mcilroy, already off to a solid start on the back nine, hit a 2-iron on the 305-yard opening hole at Chapultepec Golf Club that landed on the front of the green and was rolling just left of the pin when it settled six feet away, leading to an eagle that carried him to an 8-under 63 and a one-shot lead over Dustin Johnson.
Woods got the raucous Mexican introduction for his opening tee shot, a 5-wood that also landed on the green — the wrong green. The ball bounced hard off a temporary green to the left and beyond the out-of-bounds stake into the bushes.
And then he nearly did it again, and ultimately had to get up-and-down from 60 feet away in a bunker to escape with double bogey. After a burst of birdies, he struggled to make much the rest of the way and opened with a 71.
“I pulled across it to try and cut it and hit it dead off the toe,” Woods said. “Hit both of them dead off the toe.”
Mcilroy’s 2-iron was the signature shot in an exquisite start to this World Golf Championship. He was 6 under through an eight-hole stretch in the middle of the round, and a 20-foot birdie on No. 8 toward the end of his round is what gave him the lead over Johnson, who played in the group behind.
It was his second straight week with a 63.
“I wouldn’t say it was easy,” Mcilroy said. “I hit a lot of good golf shots, but I left myself a lot of tap-ins for birdies. As 63s go, I shot 63 at Riviera last week, but this felt probably a little more stress-free.”
Johnson won the Mexico Championship two years ago, part of three straight victories during the best stretch of golf he ever played. Johnson said he struggled with his swing at Pebble Beach and Riviera, and worked all week on the range in Mexico.
“It’s starting to feel the way it did two years ago,” he said.
Justin Thomas, who lost in a playoff last year to Phil Mickelson, chipped in from 50 feet behind the green on No. 15 for eagle and was at 66. He was tied with Matt Kuchar, who already won in Mexico once this season at the Mayakoba Classic.
PGA: Andres Romero shot a 6-under 66 to take the first-round lead in the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open. Romero birdied three of his last five holes in a bogey-free round at Coco Beach Golf and Country Club. The 37-year-old Argentine player won his lone PGA Tour titles in New Orleans in 2008 and has two European Tour victories. Austria’s Sepp Straka was a stroke back in the event that was canceled last year because of Hurricane Maria.
LPGA: Eun-hee Ji of South Korea led the LPGA Thailand by two shots after opening with a 9-under-par 63. Ji won her fifth U.S. LPGA Tour title in her previous event last month, the seasonopening Tournament of Champions in Florida. In her wake were Minjee Lee of Australia, Danielle Kang of the United States, and Jenny Shin of South Korea, each with a 65.