Rory McIlroy bounced back from a 13th hole double bogey when he found water off the tee to birdie three of his closing five holes on the opening day of the Kolon Korean Open.
The double Major winner was returning to competition for a first time in a month to post a one under par 70 to leave the Northern Irishman trailing just three shots behind Korean Ik-sae Kang who posted a four under par 67.
“I just wasn’t very comfortable with the tee shot at the 16th as I took a long time to get settled over it and then just didn’t make a very good swing,” said McIlroy.
“It was tough, some of the pin positions out there today were brutal, just cut on slopes and very hard to get close to them,” he said, “and when you did get close to them you left yourself very tricky putts.
“I felt I was a little rusty after the four weeks off, but I battled back nicely and to end up under par for the day wasn’t too bad.”
Japan tour regular Jang Ik-jae fired a flawless four-under-par 67 on Thursday to lead by one after the opening round of the Kolon Korea Open at Woo Jeong Hills Country Club near Cheonan, south of Seoul.
The 40-year-old is only playing the one billion won (around U.S. $950,000) OneAsia tournament because his manager forgot to enter him in this week’s Japan Open, but he made the most of the mistake with two birdies and an eagle around the testing 6,582-metre (7,198-yard) course.
Three other experienced Koreans and an American rookie share second place, but not far behind lurks two-time Major winner Rory McIlroy, who shot 70 on his return to competitive golf following a month-long break.
Jang said the key to his round was not making mistakes, and he was the only player in the field not to make a bogey.
“Actually for the first nine holes my tee shots weren’t very good at all. My driver wasn’t working and I was very unstable,” said the two-time winner on the Japan Tour who is currently 27th on their Order of Merit.
“But on the (par four) 10th I chipped in for an eagle with a nine iron from 176 yards (161 metres), so that really was the difference.”
Jang, who has played the last decade in Japan, said he was supposed to be taking part in their national open this week rather than at home in Korea.
“My manager forgot to enter me, so I was too late to play. That’s why I’m here,” he said. “But I like this course and I’ll try to do my best here this week.”
Sharing second place were Koreans Kang Sung-hoon — who won the CJ Invitational on the domestic tour last week — Yoon Jung-ho and Han Min-kyu.
They were joined by American rookie Eric Mina, winner of OneAsia’s Q-School held in California in January, who led the first round of last week’s Nanshan China Masters before drifting off the pace.
* Story thanks to OneAsia Tour.
