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McIlroy's watertight short game puts him on tail of leaders

The Holywood golfer carded a four-under-par opening round but it wasn’t such a good day for Padraig Harrington in California.

AFTER ALL THE talk about his strength game this week, it was Rory McIlroy’s soft hands that put him within a shot of the early leaders at the Northern Trust Open.

McIlroy this week hit back at criticism over his weights training with an excellent, first-round 67 in California’s Riviera Country Club today.

As one of the day’s early starters, McIlroy put himself a strong position heading into tomorrow’s second round with Chez Reavie, Bubba Watson and Luke List the pace-setters on five-under-par.

And it was the Holywood golfer’s short game that was particularly impressive as the 26-year-old logged just 27 putts on his way to making five birdies and one bogey.

“I felt like I played pretty well for my first competitive round (here),” McIlroy told Golf Channel.

“I wanted to get off to a good start and I was pleased with the way I putted. My pacing was good on the greens and I hit a lot of quality irons.

“The putt on [No.] 4, for example, on the front right of the green, I was really trying to get that halfway and trying to let gravity do the rest of the work,” McIlroy added.

“There was a lot of putts like that today that I felt like I judged very well, and maybe as the week goes on, the greens will get a bit firmer and a bit faster. Feel like I adjusted well today.”

Padraig Harrington will have to find some birdies in his second round after he finished up even-par today following two birdies, two bogeys and 14 pars.

You can follow the leaderboard here as the first round draws to a close.

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