Rory McIlroy: Rory, Rory, where art thou Rory McIlroy?

Rory McIlroy shot one of the worst scores during the opening round of the WGC FedEx St. Jude Invitational.

Heading into the event, Rory McIlroy was one of four men tied atop the list in Vegas for the odds-on favorite. Two of them are in the top ten. One is at even par. Rory is not one of those three.

That’s right. In what was one of the most disappointing rounds of the day, Rory McIlroy could not get his game going on the way to a +3 73. It was even worse than that for a while, as through 15 holes Rory was sitting in last place at +5. Two late birdies, including one of which came on the last hole, brought him up to +3, albeit still in the bottom ten.

It wasn’t anything specific in his game that was a struggle. He only hit half of the fairways, and the same can be said for finding greens, as both his FIR and GIR were at 50%.

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Might be a good number (or spectacular) for you and me. For one of the best players in the world, not so much.

If you could pinpoint one spot that he struggled with more than anything else, you could point to his putting. Rory had an abysmal 36 putts. That number isn’t good for anyone.

I take back nothing standing out. His putting was awful. He tied for last in the field in putting.

Rory McIlroy, where art thou Rory McIlroy?

It’s so odd looking at his stats from the opening round, not just in the number itself, but in relation to the rest of the field. He was the longest off the tee (take that Beefy Bryson), T-8th to last in GIR, T-Last in putting, T-12th to last in FIR%, and T-2nd for the most bogeys.

This isn’t the Rory that we are used to seeing.

It’s the complete opposite of Mr. Major, who dominated during his first round. He is likely going to need another great round tomorrow to continue to build confidence.

As for Rory, he is going to just need to put together one round. The good news is that this is a WGC event, and there aren’t going to be any cuts. That’s one of the bright sides that Rory can take from this. He likely is going to continue his streak of not finishing in the top-ten.

Next. WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational: Friday round huge for Brooks Koepka. dark

However, he now has three straight rounds of low-pressure golf (most likely) to hone his game and prepare for the PGA Championship. When the question is asked of where has Rory been, it looks like the answer is practicing and preparing for a major… he is just doing it during a PGA Tour tournament.