Augusta, GA …….
Rory McIlroy produced a superb ‘grandstand’ end of his round managing to save par from some six rows back in shooting a 69 to lay a hopeful Masters winning foundation on day one at Augusta National.
The effort in his 10th Masters handed McIlroy a then share of fourth place very late in the opening round of the year’s first Major.
Former Masters champion, Jordan Spieth has shown immediately he will be a real force in producing a 66 to lead by two shots from fellow Tony Finau, who less than 24-hours after the threat of having to withdraw after a bizarre ankle injury when the American overdid his hole-in-one celebration during Wednesday’s Par-3 Contest.
Finau, 28 then had fans cringing when the Utah golfer proceeded to relocate his dislocated left ankle.
He sought an x-ray of his ankle that proved negative to any break.
Finau, who is contesting a first Masters, then went onto Twitter on Thurday morning saying: “Crazy day. Thanks for thoughts of concern, messages and prayers from all. I’m optimistic.”
Rory McIlroy chipping from six rows back at the final hole on day one of the 2018 Masters
att Kuchar, and the runner-up in last year’s Open Championship, was also at four-under par with the 2016 Open winner, Henrik Stenson tied with McIlroy on three-under.
China’s Haotong Li, who had reeled-in McIlroy to capture this year’s Dubai Desert Classic looked very impressive in his maiden Masters to be tied with McIlroy, Stenson and also Patrick Reed, Charley Hoffman and Canadian Adam Hadwin.
While McIlroy looked delighted with his effort it was a round that easily could have been a 66 or a 65 given the number of lip-outs he had for birdie.
Indeed, McIlroy’s lowest Augusta score remains a 65 he shot on day one in 2011 but only to implode over the final day.
But then the golfer of seven years ago has gone onto to capture four-Majors and 18 other tour victories including his recent victory romp in capturing the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
And in stark contrast to the youthfulness and Augusta National inexperience of leading the 2011 Masters into the final day, it was a very outwardly calm and methodical McIlroy striding the fairways at now age 28 and close to 12-months of marriage.
It was 1.40pm local time when McIlroy was introduced on the tee: “For please. Rory McIlroy now driving”.
McIlroy was out in the third last group and avoiding the chill that greeted those out earlier in the day, including Masters ‘ceremonial starters’ Jack Nicklaus and Gary Masters who kicked-started the 87th Masters at 8.15am local time.
McIlroy got his much-anticipated Grand Slam quest underway with as dream start in landing his approach shot in a ‘7am’ position on the green and then finding the top of the clock with his 19-foot birdie.
He proceeded to par holes two to six before he missed a six-footer for par at the par-4 seventh.
However, McIlroy got back into the red with a four-foot birdie at the par-5 eighth hole only to then par his next four holes, including long par-4 11th and the first of the three ‘Amen Corner’ holes where his birdie putt lipped-out.
He walked off with a two-putt par from off the back of the green at the famed 12th hole and then crushed a 325-yard drive at ‘Azalae, the par-5 13th only to find a left greenside bunker where he got up-and-down for a third birdie of his round,
At the par-4 11th McIlroy again lipped-out for birdie, and this time a 30-footer.
McIlroy went to two-under for a first time in his round, and what could have been three-under par, when his eagle putt from the back of the green at the par-5 13th pulled-up 18 inches shy of the hole.
He then pared the par-3 16th McIlroy found the front bunker leaving himself a 13-footer to save par.
McIlroy saved the only real drama in his round in sending his approach shot at 18 way left and into the fifth row of the patrons calmly seated around the final green, and with McIlroy standing his ground for some seconds wondering what went wrong.
But then McIlroy need not have worried, and after security have asked for patrons to move, he was given a warm ovation in delicately landing his chip shot to two feet for an easy par.
“I made one mistake, the bogey on 7. But apart from that, I missed a couple of birdie chances early on, and I just told myself to stay patient out there. I think anything around 60 out there is a pretty good score,” he said.
“The thing is it was a much different golf course today than what we’ve seen in practice. And the SubAir must have been running nearly all night last night. That’s Augusta. That’s what we sign up to whenever we come here.
“You know it’s going to be firm and fast. And even talking to Harry (Diamond – caddy) out there, we played 54 holes Wednesday, Thursday last week, so just a week ago. And he said this place is at least five or six shots tougher today than it was when we played. And five shots, anyway.”
And when asked to single out the highlight of his round, McIlroy chosing his closing three pars.
“Probably those last three holes as it’s not always the birdies that stick out in your mind,” he said.
“That downhill left‑to‑right that I had on 17 was nice to see that go in. But I drove it well.
“Everything was really solid. And if I can continue to play like that over the next three days I’ll be pretty close.”
