DEFENDING CHAMPION RORY McIlroy enjoyed an eventful start to his bid for a fourth victory in the Wells Fargo Championship.
Playing for the first time since finishing runner-up to Scottie Scheffler in the Masters, McIlroy birdied five of his first six holes and followed a double bogey on the fourth – his 13th hole of the day – with birdies on the fifth and sixth.
The resulting three-under-par 67 left McIlroy two shots off the early clubhouse lead shared by England’s Aaron Rai and the American pair of Matthew Wolff and Denny McCarthy.
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“I think first week back after three weeks off, there’s maybe going to be a couple of mistakes in there,” McIlroy said. “The three-putt on 17 was an unforced error.
“Eleven’s a tough hole, I got a bit of a flyer from the semi rough and made bogey, but you sort of accept that and deal with that. I probably left a couple out there but I’m still pretty happy with 67.
“It could have been a 65 or a 64, but it’s still a good start. That was a nice bounce back [after the double bogey] to birdie both of those holes. I said to myself walking off the green, if I could just get back to three-under by the end of the day after that, I would be pretty happy.”
With the tournament’s regular venue of Quail Hollow hosting the Presidents Cup later in 2022, this year’s event is taking place at TPC Potomac in Maryland, a move which would not appear to McIlroy’s advantage.
However, the course is just two miles from Congressional Country Club, where the 33-year-old McIlroy won the 2011 US Open by eight shots to claim his first major title.
“I love this part of the world, I like the area,” McIlroy said. “I went over to Congressional yesterday and that rekindled some nice memories. As I said, this style of golf just sort of suits me and I seem to play well around here.”
Rai carded five birdies in a bogey-free 65 as he seeks his first victory on the PGA Tour following two wins in Europe; the most recent coming after beating Tommy Fleetwood in a play-off at the 2020 Scottish Open.
Seamus Power carded an opening round 70. A bogey on the second and a birdie on the 12th made it an even-par effort for the Waterford man, and he now sits in a share of 48th.
Paul Dunne, Jonathan Caldwell and Cormac Sharvin are all well down the leaderboard at the British Masters after finishing with 76, 77 and 81 respectively at The Belfry.
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Something not right with them this year. There’s almost too many players. No idea.
@Peter Brophy: I think the problem is that Leo is rotating his players too much. He needs a consistent core group of players so that when the internationals come back into the side, it won’t be such a jump. Having said that, it’s worrying that Leinster haven’t had a single good performance this season and they’re only a game away from their first Championship Cup fixture.
A lot of credit must go to how Edinburgh approached the match and made things difficult for Leinster. Reduced to some aimless kicking or loose running, it was up to Leinster to think their way out of it. No trophies won in September so move on to the next one and take the 4 points and them taking nothing.
This team will get much better. They just need to reintegrate all the big names. It was like their first day at school last night…. no need to panic
From a munster and Ireland fan sexton is shitte hot …munster Leinster this year
He brushed over the lineout issue.
A couple of missed calls? How can there possible be a missed call? The pack huddle, make a call and then the prop tells this call to the hooker. Unless either the prop or the hooker doesn’t speak or understand English someone please tell me how they could get the call wrong.
“3 or 4 international class players in every position”
@Paul O’Connor: And yet they look like AIL players. And you can ask why. And the answe is they all think they are the dogs bollo&, but it is high time they earned their wages. They are overpaid, overhyped, muck