Rory McIlroy overcame a stomach bug but declared there was no lingering concerns following a rib injury in posting a 68 under par on the day one of the WGC – Mexico Championship in Mexico City.
Whether it was a tacky taco or bad burrito the illness didn’t deter McIlroy taking an aggressive approach in cloudless conditions in the $US 9.75m event to finish two shots fewer than his playing partner on the Chapultepec course.
It is McIlroy’s first official tournament in 45-days since losing out in a play-off for the South African Open.
And the good news McIlroy said there was no ill-effects following suffering a stress fracture of a rib earlier in the New Year.
Standout highlight of McIlroy’s round was clearly the eagle ‘3’ at the par five sixth hole that the current World No. 2 was playing as his 15th.
McIlroy’s drive was on a down slope left of the hole, and near trees but if there any doubt of any lingering ill-effects of a stress fracture of the rib, he dispelled that drilling a 256-yard second shot over water guarding the green to 28 feet just left of the flag.
He then stepped-up and duly rolled in the putt to move from just inside the top-10 to a then share of fourth place.
McIlroy followed with three closing pars for a three under par 68 on the par 71 lay out in the suburbs of the world’s eighth-highest capital city.
“The rib is fine and it’s great actually how I have responded over the last few weeks as I’ve been able to rev-up the practice and feel great in my first competitive round out there today,” he said.
“So, I didn’t feel any pain at all and it’s all positive in that regard.
“The thing is that I could have played the Honda last week but the thing was that I was not going to know how my body was going to react if I had of played four rounds in a row.
“This is the good thing about being here in Mexico as everyone is guaranteed four rounds and then I have next week to see how everything reacts and how I respond.
“It would have been great to have stayed in my own bed last week in Florida in playing the Honda but I think having a week longer to fully recover will pay off in the long run.”
The Ulsterman had picked-up the first birdie of his round when he drained a 14-footer at his second hole before a series of two-putt pars except at the very tight tree-lined 18th he was playing at his ninth when he drilled a drive 350-yards but took three to get down from 50-yards for a par.
McIlroy drove a green side bunker at 313-yards at the first or his 10th but then splashed out to near eight-feet and holed the birdie.
Then after a loose second shot at this 14th he three-putted from near 60-feet for a bogey.
McIlroy can this week return to World No.1 with victory but then Johnson does need to finish no worse than a share of third.
Johnson produced a real roller-coaster display starting with a pair of birdies, dropping shots at his fourth and fifth hole then picking up a birdie at six and also his ninth.
He then made a complete mess of his 10th, and like McIlroy finding bushed behind the green and then sticking his second into a bunker ahead of taking a further four shots to get down from 18-yards for a double bogey ‘6’.
‘DJ’ was back to one over with a bogey at his 14th but did birdie his 15th and 17th holes.
Lone Scot Russell Knox, and no stranger to competing in Mexico, was struggling at three over par late in round.
Knox birdied the second but it was all downhill from there on in taking a double bogey at the fourth and then bogeys at seven nine to make the turn at three over.
He produced back-to-back birdies at 10 and 11 but gave both shots back with a second double of the day at the 14th after a wild drive right of the hole.
England’s Ross Fischer and current PGA Champion Jimmy Walker shared the clubhouse lead late in the day with four under par 66s.
Unfortunately, Open Champion Henrik Stenson was forced to withdraw with a stomach bug and thus reducing the field to 76 players.
