Triple Major winning Rory McIlroy shrugged off any Hoylake hangover despite posting a penultimate double bogey on the opening day of the WGC – Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio.
McIlroy was two under par playing his 17th hole when he thinned a greenside bunker shot and then took a further three shots to get down ahead of rebounding in superb manner with a three foot birdie at his last.
McIlroy’s one under par 69 left him trailing four shots behind the leading duo of South African Charl Schwartzel and American Ryan Moore who held the clubhouse lead in the $US 9m event with five under par 65s
McIlroy is contesting the two rounds of event alongside certain Gleneagles Ryder Cup rival Matt Kuchar and was, on average, some 40-yards ahead of the American on each occasion he used the driver.
Rory McIlroy tees off the 11th tee during Thursday’s Round 1 of the WGC Bridgestone Invitational. (Photo – Eoin Clarke, www.golffile.ie)
But once on the green McIlroy managed just four birdies but then the 25-year old was delighted with his efforts.
“I’m pleased to be back competing and I’ve always looked forward to this week as it’s always been a week I’ve enjoyed and competing on a great golf course, so I was very much pleased to be back,” he said.
“So it was nice to get back to work but then it doesn’t feel any different to how I have been playing of late.
“Apart from the unfortunate double bogey on eight I am pretty happy with everything.”
McIlroy looked very much at ease 11 days after being handed the famed Claret Jug, and if there was a clear example of his intent while over the ball then that was no more evident when the Country and Western ring tone of a mobile phone went off when he was teeing off at the 17th.
“I would rather not have anyone say anything about the phone going off because then you have to go through your whole routine again, so I would rather let it go,” he said.
Equipment-wise McIlroy has removed the 2-iron and 3-iron from his bag, and two clubs that helped steer him to victory at Royal Liverpool, so that he’s again carrying four wedges with lofts of 47, 52, 56 and 60 degrees.
Fellow US Open winner Graeme McDowell posted a 71 to match the score of playing partner and now close friend Hunter Mahan, the USA rival he humbled some four years ago to deliver Europe victory in the 2010 Ryder Cup.
And McDowell summed-up the current plight of Paul McGinley’s choice of his three wildcard picks.
“A couple of our picks are fairly obvious and the way I see it Paul has two wildcard picks and ‘Poults’ (Ian Poulter)”,” he smiled.
But with two months to the Gleneagles showdown, most observers believe, and if McDowell should not qualify automatically, it will be Poulter and McDowell getting a pick and McGinley left with one other.
And with Miguel Angel Jimenez passing McDowell on route to the scorer’s hut following the Spaniard’s round of 69, it prompted McDowell to remark: “There’s another pick walking by, and I would not have a problem teeing-up in the Friday morning Foursomes with him. He’s an absolute legnd.”
