Rory McIlroy Grinds It Out At The Honda Classic
For Rory McIlroy round one of the Honda Classic was not the walk in the park we’ve gotten used to seeing from the best player on the planet. Playing in his first PGA Tour event of the year, he didn’t exactly come out of the gates flying, but the conditions at PGA National were difficult to say the least. He may not have been brilliant but he grinded out a three over par 73, a score that could have been much worse.
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The wind was howling making a difficult golf course even harder. For McIlroy it was a struggle from the start. The good feelings from his win in Dubai didn’t last for long when he double bogeyed his first hole of the day. Could this be a sign? Maybe 2015 won’t be the “Year of Rory” and before we know it he’ll end up chipping like Tiger Woods.
Okay did we get that overreaction out of our systems?
He got one of the strokes back with a birdie on the par five third but then went on to bogey the fourth and double the fifth. He rebounded by sinking a twenty-two foot long birdie putt on the eighth. Two more bogeys on the backside could of sent him into a tailspin. Then he reminded us why he’s the game’s best with a birdie birdie finish, and all of sudden a disastrous day became not too bad.
"“It was tough when nothing was going your way, we were all struggling it was a grind out there.”"
Just as we’ve seen many times already this year, the course stole the show today. At Torrey Pines we watched a U.S. Open break out in February and last week Riviera showed no mercy. It’s only one round in but so far Jack Nicklaus’ PGA National & the famed “Bear Trap” are having their way with the world’s best players. Plenty of golf balls found their watery graves, putts weren’t going in, guys were left shaking their heads, and McIlroy wasn’t immune to any of it.
Rory started the year off hot two top 3 finishes in the Middle East including the win in Dubai that only added to the thought that the guy was golf’s Hercules. PGA National wasn’t about to let Rory climbed to the top of Mount Olympus. His towering drives and iron shots we’re smacked down by the gusting winds. Right now he sits eight strokes off the lead but a hot round tomorrow could put him right in the thick of things.
"“I’m coming off a three-week break and some tough conditions to come back out in. I know my game is there but today wasn’t obviously what I wanted to start with. If can put something in red numbers tomorrow I’ll be right back in it.”"
There’s that saying that “tomorrow is a new day” and for McIlroy there’s a good chance it will be a better one. He already has a knack for going low on Fridays. This year alone he blazed the field with a 64 on Friday in Dubai. He’ll be playing a softer golf course with an early morning tee time and the wind will be under control. At this point considering what it could have been, things aren’t too bad for Rory. This may be his worst opening round since last year’s Open Championship but for those of you who just landed here from mars, he ended that week sipping from the Claret Jug.
Quotes From PGATour.com