LAST UPDATE | 31 May
RORY McILROY DIDN’T drop a shot on the opening round of the RBC Canadian Open as he went into the clubhouse on four-under par, tied for sixth heading into today’s play.
He was three shots off joint leaders Sean O’Hair and Sam Burns before Englishman David Skinns took the outright lead on eight-under.
The Holywood native went out from the back nine and finished even par before making some ground at the turn straight away with a birdie three on the first.
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Three successive pars were then followed with three birdies over the last four holes.
Seamus Power went out at the same time as McIlroy but began his round on the first. A birdie on the fourth was sandwiched between bogeys on the third and eighth before he signed for a two-over par 72 with a final bogey on 18.
Shane Lowry is tied with Power after the Offaly native endured a mixed round with two birdies, one double bogey and a pair of back-to-back bogeys on the 10th and 11th before seven successive pars to complete his round.
For McIlroy, his faultless round almost hit a snag on the par-5 17th when his tee shot went awry.
“I obviously hit it into the hospitality and some guy yelled out, ‘You need a wrist band to get in here!’” McIlroy said on pgatour.com. “So that was pretty funny.”
He could laugh after saving par and explained how he’s not had any experience of the restored back nine beforehand.
“I played the back nine blind,” said McIlroy. “Hadn’t seen the back nine. Only played the front nine in the pro-am.
“But once I got that nine holes out of the way I knew there were some chances on that front side and played probably much better on that front side. Four birdies there, no bogeys, was a good day’s work.”
