It was comfort for Rory McIlroy but blisters for Darren Clarke on the opening day of the Wells Fargo Championship in suburban Charlotte, North Carolina.
McIlroy grabbed six birdies in a three under par 69 while could not wait to remove his left shoe and revealing a nasty blister on the back of his heel after signing for a four over par 76.
It is the just the sixth occasion in 15 rounds of the Quail Hollow course McIlroy has broken 70 with the new World No. 11 capitalising on his length off the tee to three of the four par fives, and also his chosen highlights being birdies at the par three sixth and 17th holes.
“I could have squeezed a bit more out of the round but then anything sub-70 was a decent score as the wind was getting up a little there at the end and making the course play tricky,” he said.
Rory McIlroy in the spotlight after his opening round of 69. (Photo – www.golfbytourmiss.com)
“I played the par fives well, because coming off Augusta where I played the par fives in even par for the week and playing the fives today in three-under par was much better.”
And McIlroy was also delighted with his putting and taking just 28 putts including five one-putts in succession from the fifth hole of his round, and on 18 completely new Bermuda greens since he shared 10th place a year ago.
In the two weeks since sharing eighth place in the Masters McIlroy has worked hard on his putting including using a putting mirror, a chalk line and the tried and true length of string.
“I was standing too close to the ball when I was putting so my eye line was the far side of the ball, so I basically couldn’t see a straight line,” he said.“It was like I was aiming about three inches left of the hole, and it seems so simple, and you wonder how a Tour pro makes that mistake.
“So to see six birdie putts drop on these new greens was very pleasing and reassurance of the work I’ve been undertaking on my putting since the Masters.”
McIlroy played alongside Sweden’s Jonas Blixt for a first time in his career, and while the Swede is struggling with an arm injury since his share of second at Augusta, McIlroy agreed with Ryder Cup captain, Paul McGinley’s assertion that Blixt shows just the ‘spunk’ needed in a Ryder Cup team.
“Yeah, I agree with Paul exactly, for sure,” said McIlroy.
“Jonas played well in the PGA last year at Oak Hill, and he got himself into contention in the Masters, so he seems to be able to perform well on the big occasions.”
Clarke wasted little time changing into a pair of trainers after his round but refusing to seek medical treatment on his blister.
The former British Open winner was hurting more in taking a last hole triple bogey where his second shot from 256-yards out cannoned off a tree to go 40 yards back behind him and not forward as those who go onto www.pgatour.com to view ‘Shot Tracker’.
Clarke then found the back of the green with his fourth and took three shots to get down from some 40-feet.
“The blister’s okay but what hurts more is taking a triple on the last, and after hitting a tree why would you expect anything else,” he said.
“I’d just managed to birdie the hole before to get myself back to one over but those are the breaks.”
Double Major winning Angel Cabrera of Argentina produced his lowest score all season of a six under par 66 to end the day leading by one at six under par.
Padraig Harrington was out in the afternoon half of the draw and had moved to three under par with two holes to play but ended double bogey and bogey in a round of 72.
