MCILROY, TOM KIM PUT ON A SHOW AT CJ CUP
Tom Kim felt as much a spectator as a player Thursday in the CJ Cup, amazed at how Rory McIlroy produces so much power with so little effort.
Kim wasn’t too bad himself.
They were the star attractions on a beautiful morning at Congaree Golf Club in Ridgeland, S.C., one of them pursuing the No. 1 world ranking, the other a 20-year-old who is quickly becoming one of the more popular players among his peers.
Trey Mullinax and former U.S. Open champion Gary
Woodland each had a 6-under 65. McIlroy and Kim, who played together in the same group with Rickie Fowler (74), were among those another shot back at 66.
“He makes this game look so easy,” said Kim, who won two weeks ago in Las Vegas to become the first player since Tiger Woods with two PGA Tour titles before turning 21. “It was really hard to just kind of play my own game sometimes, seeing the lines he took. It was like 380 (yards) to the runout and he was saying, ‘Sit!’ I was like, ‘Really? Like sit?’ But he almost made it.
“Obviously, what was the most important thing for me today was trying to play my own game and not look at his line. But it was still so much fun.”
McIlroy was equally impressed, mainly at how polished Kim plays at such a young age.
They matched birdies for so much of the day in different manners.
One example was the par-5 fourth hole, where McIlroy hit a 360-yard drive that bounded along the firm, wide fairway, and belted a fairway metal just through the green. Kim was 50 yards behind him off the tee, still 64 yards from the hole after a fairway metal, and then clipped a wedge over a bunker to 7 feet for birdie.
McIlroy really showed his driving ability on the 366-yard 15th, with sand and water along the right side of the green. He hit his drive just onto the front of the green, even as Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas in the group ahead were putting.
“The longer I stood over that tee shot, the more likely it was that I was going to lay up, so I just needed to step up and hit it,” McIlroy said. “Whether they were on the green or not, I had to go.”
Elsewhere
Atthaya Thitikul shot a 9under 63 to set a tournament record and lead after the first round of the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea.
Marcus Armitage shot a course-record 8-under 63 to take a one-stroke lead after the opening round of the Mallorca Open on the DP World Tour in Spain. The Englishman made four birdies in each side of the turn and was bogey free at the Son Muntaner Golf Club.