McIlroy in prime position at Players Championship despite inconsistent driver
The curious case of Rory McIlroy and the driver continued Thursday at TPC Sawgrass as McIlroy had more birdies than fairways hit. But despite his struggles off the tee, McIlroy is in prime position to win The Players Championship for a second time.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The curious case of Rory McIlroy and the driver continued Thursday at TPC Sawgrass as McIlroy had more birdies — seven — than fairways hit – four.
Alas, McIlroy was one of the best putters through the day at TPC Sawgrass and was near the top of the board in terms of ball striking as well. And now the 2019 champion is in prime position to win this championship for a second time, trailing by just one shot with the opening round suspended due to darkness.
McIlroy, who was known through the beginning part of the week more for his comments about golfers-on-social-media (“I’m happy for the people that enjoy it, but I enjoy something else”) and his phone lift of a University of Texas golfer who chirped McIlroy during his practice round – a video of which went viral.
McIlroy barely addressed the viral video, saying – when asked if he was surprised it was a college-level golfer (a good one at that) and not just a random fan – “I’m really happy that I shot 67 today.”
Considering his struggles off the tee, which was a continuation of his disappointing effort with the big stick last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he should be happy. He was tied for 140th (essentially last in the field) in driving accuracy on Thursday, but his 67 tied the lowest round at TPC Sawgrass ever by a player who hit four or fewer fairways.
McIlroy trails Lucas Glover, J.J. Spaun, and Camilo Villegas by one after that trio fired 6-under 66s.
“I think with the greens being so receptive, you can get away with it a little bit. I’m not going to be able to get away with it for the rest of the week. Sort of rode my luck out there a little bit,” McIlroy admitted.
“Just whatever way the pattern is in my swing at the minute, I’m trying to hold everything off. That’s fine; that’s what I did here in 2019 (when McIlroy won) and it worked well. Hitting that cut shot into play here is never really going to get you into trouble.”
One of the highlights of the day for McIlroy came on the closing hole, as he punched out from the pine straw to just seven feet and made birdie — his fourth on the back nine. McIlroy birdied the par-5 9th and then added three straight birdies to his scorecard after making the turn.
“It’s one of those, you hit it in there, all that stuff has been sort of cleared out over the years, and you’re just hoping for a backswing and a gap, and I had both of those,” McIlroy said of his closing birdie. “You hit it in there, you get in, you assess the lie. You just sort of figure it out and you play from memory and experience. I’ve been in the pine straw a lot around here, at Augusta, a lot of places.
“You just try to judge the lie as best you can and go from there.”
The Canadian contingent who teed off in the afternoon, like McIlroy, were also able to take advantage – despite both Taylor Pendrith and Adam Hadwin making bogeys on their finishing holes.
The afternoon wave played almost three shots easier than the morning, on pace to be the largest gap between waves at TPC Sawgrass in the last 20 years.
Pendrith and Hadwin shot matching 3-under 69s and are firmly in the mix through 18 holes.
Pendrith got off to a magical start after telling Sportsnet earlier in the week he just needed to see a few putts fall to snap out of a putting funk. The native of Richmond Hill, Ont., is 159th in strokes gained: putting for the season, the same stat he was fifth in last year.
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That’s exactly what happened Thursday, as he rolled in a 26-footer on his opening hole, No. 10, and followed that up with a 16-foot birdie on No. 11. He ended the day third in strokes gained: putting, adding an eagle on the par-5 16th and three more birdies on his second nine to the card.
“I’ve been off to a cold start for sure (with the putter), but the first putt I hit today was dead centre in the middle – and I’ve been waiting a long time to see that happen and it jumpstarted my day,” Pendrith said. “It gave me a lot of confidence and I was able to roll another nice one on the next hole. I made a ton of nice putts today and I just had good feel. I was comfortable over the ball, and I haven’t felt that way in a while.
“We worked really hard on it the last week-and-a-half and it was nice to see it pay off.”
Hadwin, meanwhile, was much steadier, making four birdies in his first 11 holes and then the only blemish a bogey on the par-4 18th as darkness fell. This is Hadwin’s 11th appearance at The Players, but his 69 marks his best-ever opening round at TPC Sawgrass.
Both Hadwin and Pendrith missed the cut at The Players last year.
“I hit a lot of greens and when I did miss I scrambled really well and made some nice putts. Just a pretty level round,” Hadwin said. “I didn’t do anything spectacular, but I took advantage of some opportunities. Stumbled a little coming home but solid start.”
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Corey Conners also finished in red figures, shooting a 1-under 71, highlighted by a 46-footer for birdie on the iconic par-3 17th ‘Island Green’ hole. That putt marked his longest of the season, and longest since last year’s Players Championship, when he made a 63-foot birdie on No. 11 in the second round.
“It was on a great line and I was just hoping it had enough steam to get there. It was great to see that drop in the hole. Definitely a bonus to make a putt that long,” Conners told Sportsnet. All of Mackenzie Hughes, Nick Taylor, Adam Svensson and Ben Silverman finished over par on Thursday.
