Rory McIlroy made a sluggish begin to his last PGA Tour occasion forward of The Masters by carding an opening-round 70 on the Texas Kids’s Houston Open.
The FedExCup chief, already a winner on the AT&T Pebble Seashore Professional-Am and The Gamers this season, has opted for a primary Houston look since 2014 to organize for his bid to finish the profession Grand Slam subsequent month at Augusta Nationwide.
McIlroy – enjoying within the morning wave – blended two birdies with as many bogeys on the par-70 format on the Memorial Park Golf Course, with a irritating day on the greens seeing him make simply 49 toes of putts.
The world No 2 – beginning on the again 9 – missed from eight toes to avoid wasting par on the 14th and didn’t make the most of the par-five sixteenth, earlier than undoing his first birdie of the day on the par-five third by dropping a shot on the subsequent.
McIlroy remained over par till a tap-in birdie on the par-five eighth – his penultimate gap of the day – with the 35-year-old needing an improved efficiency on Friday to verify he avoids a primary missed lower since The Open.
“A little pedestrian, I guess is a good way to describe it,” McIlroy stated. “We needed to cope with these situations early on, wet and never too nice to play in.
Rory McIlroy carded a level-par 70 in his opening spherical
“Made just a few par saves early on that I wanted to after which had fairly just a few possibilities on the second 9 there that I did not convert.
“Yeah, sort of tale of two halves. I felt like I was scrambling for the most part on the first nine and then I feel like I left a couple out there on the last nine.”
European Ryder Cup hopefuls Victor Perez and Rasmus Hojgaard each carded opening-round 66s, with world No 1 Scottie Scheffler an additional shot again after a bogey-free begin.
Scheffler – trying to find a maiden win of the season forward of his title defence at Augusta Nationwide subsequent month – registered three birdies to
Scottie Scheffler (proper) is chasing a primary win of the season, whereas Rickie Fowler (left) wants a win to qualify for The Masters
“I felt like I started to play a little bit better on the back nine,” Scheffler stated. “The first nine I was kind of getting it around a little bit but still post a score today. Conditions were pretty tough out there today with the rain and the wind, so overall nice to keep a clean card.”
England’s Harry Corridor posted a two-under 68 and Rickie Fowler – enjoying with Scheffler – sits an additional stroke adrift, whereas defending champion Jaeger is alongside McIlroy on stage par.
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