Those out following Rory McIlroy over the front nine on the opening day of the Shell Houston Open could very well have joined in chorus declaring: “Houston, Rory has a problem!”
But after slumping to three over par over his outward half McIlroy managed to fix the problem and superbly wipe out the bogeys in the first four holes of his homeward nine in signing for an eventual score of a one over par 73.
It left McIlroy trailing nine strokes behind American D.A. Points who resurrected a putter he had ‘borrowed’ from his mother’s bag when he was 12-years old and use it on just 23 occasions in a score of an eight under par 64.
Rory McIlroy in the media spotlight after his round of 73. (Photo – www.golfbytourmiss.com)
McIlroy had turned down the opportunity to join fellow Irishman Shane Lowry and their manager and respective caddies at Wednesday night’s NBA Houston Rockets and Indiana Pacers game and instead he stayed in his hotel room.
But then opening paragraph of the report on the game in Wednesday’s edition of the Houston Chronicle could very well have been the golf lead in the Friday edition with the paper reporting: “The Rockets, they were just missing shots.”
That was very much the scenario for McIlroy over his first nine holes on the Redstone course and with his second shot iron play badly hurting the World No. 2 who missed the green in regulation for five of the nine outward holes and made the turn sharing 132nd place in the 156-player field.
McIlroy flew the green with his second shot at the second taking bogey and after five straight pars he found a fairway bunker with his drive off the par five, eighth hole but could only manage to advance the ball just seven yards.
He then put his third into water guarding the green before two-putting for a double bogey ‘seven’.
In contrast, playing partners Keegan Bradley and fellow American Dustin Johnson made the turn with respective three under par and level par totals.
But to his credit, McIlroy turned around his flagging effort and stating off his back nine with one of the best shots of his round, a wedge at the 10th hole from 106-yards out to less than a foot for a first birdie.
He then played a wedge to 11 feet at the 12th and holed the birdie putt before two-putting for birdie at the next, and while he bogeyed 14, McIlroy recovered the shot two-putting 15 for birdie.
“I just felt really tentative for some reason over the front nine but managed to feel my way back into the tournament a little bit over my inward half,” he said.
“I just started to commit more to my shots and tried to hit some more good shots, and everything is feeling pretty good.
“My round could have easily got away from me so I fought back well and I’m in good spirits and didn’t get too down on myself as we saw when I made a few quick birdies to start my back nine.
“It would be been great to finish at one over par but a 73 is not too bad.”
There’s no question he’s hitting more good shots than he was early in the year, but he’s not letting it go. “It needs to get more free-flowing,’’ he said.
And he needs to cut down on the mistakes. The ones he made at the eighth that led to the double bogey.
“I just tried to commit to myself a little more on the back nine and seemed to help,’’ he said.
“So, a couple of loose shots here and there, but all in all, it was a tricky day, and if I could have got it back to even par, I would have been pretty happy, but I’m 1-over par and hopefully the conditions are a little calmer tomorrow morning and go throughout and make some more birdies.”
