Rory McIlroy remains confident of challenging for a successful title defence at The Players, despite feeling ‘rusty’ during a sluggish opening round at TPC Sawgrass.
McIlroy said he was going to make a ‘game-time decision’ on whether to tee it up at the PGA Tour’s flagship event, having struggled with a back injury since withdrawing mid-tournament at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Saturday.
The world No 2 received daily treatment ahead of arriving at the tournament on Wednesday afternoon, with McIlroy not playing a practice round ahead of featuring in the opening round.
McIlroy also didn’t hit any club longer than a six-iron from his early exit at Bay Hill over the weekend until his warm-up on Thursday, where he mixed one birdie with three bogeys to card a two-over 74 and sit seven strokes off the lead.
“It’s not as if I’ve taken a ton of time off, but just felt like unbelievably rusty out there,” McIlroy told reporters. “I’m glad I got through the round.
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Rory McIlroy paid the price for missing fairways at TPC Sawgrass, as he made back-to-back bogeys during the first round
“I was trying to just get back to even par for the day on that back nine – couldn’t quite get there. I’m starting with a couple of birdie chances tomorrow on the back, so I’ll try to get it back to even par.
“Honestly, I don’t feel like I’m that far away. No one went really low this afternoon, which I expected them to, just because the conditions were pretty benign. If I can go out and shoot a good one tomorrow, I feel like I’ll be right in it for the weekend.”
Slow start to McIlroy’s title defence
McIlroy, playing alongside Xander Schauffele and Hideki Matsuyama, opened with three straight pars before following a wayward iron off the tee – and dropped shot – at the par-four fourth by also bogeying the next.
The Masters champion responded with a stunning approach from a fairway bunker into the par-four sixth, setting up a close-range birdie, then was unable to convert further looks over the next two holes.
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Rory McIlroy hit an incredible bunker shot from 160 yards to set up a birdie on the par-four sixth hole during the first round of The Players.
A chunked chip from just off the par-five ninth left him having to settle for par, closing a front-nine 37, with McIlroy limiting the damage to a bogey at the par-five 11th after finding trees off the tee and then pitching out into thick rough.
McIlroy overcame waywardness off the tee at the 12th to save par and produced an impressive up and down at the par-four 15th to avoid bogey, having found a tough lie in the fairway bunker, then pulled his approach to the 16th and scrambled a par at the par-four last.
McIlroy is playing in the event without a practice round
“I would say the most discomfort was like when the ball was below my feet or with chipping, like getting down a little bit to it,” McIlroy added. “Honestly, overall it was fine.
“Got a little bit tired at the end of the day, but yeah, it was actually all pretty good. I’ve sort of had zero prep. I hit maybe 30 golf balls yesterday and then went and chipped and putted around the last six holes last night.
McIlroy is playing in the event without a practice round
“I felt like from what I experienced yesterday evening in terms of the golf course and the greens compared to what we played today, it was so different. The greens were two feet slower, so much softer just because of the rain. So it was a little bit of an adjustment there.
“Hopefully I’ll wake up in the morning feeling just as good if not better than I did today.”
McIlroy is among the early starters on Friday morning, with him, Schauffele and Matsuyama teeing off at 8.52am local time (12.52pm UK time). Schauffele started with a three-under 69, as Matsuyama posted an opening-round 70.
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