Rory McIlroy at HSBC Champions 2015: Thursday Leaderboard Score and Reaction
Race to Dubai leader Rory McIlroy made a steady start at the 2015 HSBC Champions on Thursday as he shot an opening-round 68 to finish four under par.
The world No. 3 had one blot on his scorecard, a double-bogey six on the 15th, but six birdies saw him finish five back from clubhouse leader, Branden Grace.
Here is McIlroy's scorecard from the opening day of action at the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai:
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| Par | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 36 |
| Score | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 34 |
| Overall | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -2 | E | -1 | -1 | -2 | -2 |
| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 36 |
| Score | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 34 |
| Overall | -2 | -3 | -4 | -4 | -4 | -4 | -4 | -4 | -4 | -4 |
McIlroy was hampered in his preparations for the China tournament after being struck down by a bout of food poisoning, per BBC Sport.
The 26-year-old missed out on Wednesday's pre-competition pro-am, but recovered in time to tee up alongside Rickie Fowler and Dustin Johnson on Thursday morning, per the European Tour:
He made the perfect start as he went one under par straight away with a birdie three on the 10th—his opening hole. McIlroy then took advantage of the first par five as he picked up another shot with a birdie four on the 14th.
His good early work was undone when, after a lovely tee shot on 15, he engineered a double-bogey six to drop back to even par.
The Northern Irishman was back in the red again after the 16th, though, as he found another birdie before parring the 17th.
McIlroy then picked up another shot on the par-five 18th to reach the turn in 34, an excellent recovery having handed back his two early shots in surprising fashion.
Last week, at the Turkish Airlines Open, McIlroy was largely impeccable from tee to green, and he showed similar consistency in Shanghai on Thursday.
Back-to-back birdies on the par-five second and par-four third moved him further up the leaderboard and set him up for an impressive final nine holes.
However, as has so often been the case recently for McIlroy, some poor putting prevented him from posting a truly excellent score.
At the seventh, he put his approach shot within 15 feet of the pin, but his attempt at birdie slid past the hole.
He then missed an even shorter putt—under three feet—for birdie at the par-five eighth having forced a decent opportunity with a delicate chip.
Another effort for birdie came up short at the ninth to see McIlroy finish with a four-under round of 68.
While he will be disappointed to have left a number of shots out on the course, he is still very much in the mix after Day 1 in China.
McIlroy seemed generally satisfied with his day's work after the round, especially considering his poor preparations, per BBC Sport:
"It was probably a little better than I was expecting out there to be honest. When I was hitting balls this morning on the range I had not been out of bed for basically 48 hours, so I was really stiff. I needed to loosen up quite a lot, but when I got out there I felt pretty good."
If a few more putts go in on Friday and over the weekend, McIlroy will undoubtedly be competing at the top of the leaderboard come Sunday evening.
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