WGC-Cadillac Championship 2015: Leaderboard Highlights, Reaction from Thursday

For most of the world's best golfers, Doral provided a formidable foe in Thursday's first round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship. 

For J.B. Holmes, it was his own personal playground.   

Holmes carded a 10-under score of 62 on Thursday, putting him four strokes ahead of second-place Ryan Moore after a near-flawless round of golf. The 32-year-old, who has only gone so much as 10-under in one tournament so far this season, carded eight birdies and an eagle without a bogey in perhaps the best round of his career.

"It's a very difficult golf course. I played great today but it is a very difficult golf course, and today a lot of tees were up," Holmes said, per Steve DiMeglio of USA Today. "They could definitely put the tees back and make it play a lot harder, and it's already playing hard. The best players in the world are here, and the average is over par today…It's hard to back these days up. So I'll just try to go out there with no expectations tomorrow and play."

Most of the day Holmes was closely chased by Moore, who played through his first 12 holes at eight under before faltering down the stretch. Moore reeled off five consecutive pars on the back nine before closing his day with an ugly double bogey on No. 18 after hitting a shot into the water. Despite the disappointing ending, Moore closed his day two strokes free of the remainder of the field.

Take Moore and Holmes out of the equation, in fact, and one would surmise this was a difficult day at Doral. Only seven players so much as finished their days in the 60s, with a majority of the field struggling with the course's difficult par fours.

Alexander Levy, Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler lead the top of that pack at four under, each scattering their scorecards with pars and bogeys where Moore and Holmes were scoring birdie. Fowler was the most consistent of the bunch, carding a lone bogey against five birdies in a largely consistent round. 

J Pat Carter/Associated Press

Johnson and Fowler are also among the biggest notables near the top of the leaderboard, as a majority of top-ranked stars found themselves hanging on the edge of contention. World No. 3 Henrik Stenson is a shot behind Fowler and Johnson at three-under, Adam Scott is another stroke back after carding a 70 and second-ranked Bubba Watson survived three bogeys to go one under.

Scott in particular has been interesting to watch as he makes the switch back to a standard putter after years of using the soon-to-be-banned anchor putter.

“The putting was really good," Scott said, per Jason Sobel of Golf Channel. "Not that I'm surprised, but I'm pleased that it was. And you know, hopefully something to work on from here.”

Things did not, however, go so swimmingly for the two names drawing the biggest crowds Thursday.

Playing his third round of 2015 stateside, Rory McIlroy sits in a tie for 27th place after turning in a frustrating one-over 73. McIlroy went through his opening nine holes four over after double-bogeying No. 18 (he started on the back nine), righting himself just enough on a wild back nine to keep himself on the edge of contention. Playing without a par on his final six holes, McIlroy turned in two bogeys, three birdies and an eagle.

"I expect a lot from myself, but you know, shooting 1‑over par out there today isn't too bad," McIlroy said, per DiMeglio. "It's obviously not what I wanted. But there's no reason to panic and no reason to be alarmed. I'll just go out tomorrow and try and put some red numbers on the board."

Also struggling throughout the day was Phil Mickelson, who did not card a single birdie en route to a two-over 74. It was the first time Mickelson had not carded a birdie in nearly 200 rounds, according to a Washington Post report. Lefty has yet to win on tour since his Open Championship win in 2013.

While it's unclear if Mickelson, McIlroy or any high-profile star can make it interesting into the weekend, Holmes' second round has already become must-watch television. His brilliant day matched a course record and featured a tap-in eagle that had everyone at Doral nearly falling out of their chairs as they watched him come within feet of a rare double eagle.   

If Holmes can even come close to matching those heroics—or, heck, even halve them—everyone at Doral will be playing for second place over the next few days.    

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter