Rory McIlroy at Players Championship 2016: Thursday Leaderboard Score, Reaction
Despite not winning a competitive golf tournament in nearly a full year, Rory McIlroy entered this week's Players Championship as the odds-on favorite. If Thursday's first round is any indication, that may have been a grave overestimation.
McIlroy carded an even-par score of 72, which puts him nine strokes behind leader Jason Day. The world No. 1 carded a nine-under 63 and holds a two-stroke lead over the field. Day had nine birdies without a single bogey in a near-flawless round.
| Par | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 36 |
| Score | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 37 |
| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 36 |
| Score | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 35 |
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McIlroy, meanwhile, spent his day barely keeping his head above water. He parred 14 of the 18 holes on a day where more than half the field turned in under-par scores. The world's third-ranked golfer sits in 82nd place, sharing residence with a disappointed Jordan Spieth.
For the most part, McIlroy's round was spectacular in how bland it was. His irons and drives were fine for most of the day. He hit 64.3 percent of his greens in regulation and 61.1 percent of his fairways. On most days, McIlroy would have turned numbers like that into a solid under-par day.
Unfortunately, McIlroy couldn't find his way on the putting surface. He had opportunities to card an under-par score from the green on 10 different holes. On the par-five ninth, McIlroy three-putted from inside 10 feet.
There's also the whole matter of McIlroy not capitalizing on a good driving day. While most fans will point to his ailing putter—a long-standing flaw in McIlroy's game—his approaches weren't good. It's almost anomalous for McIlroy to be long and accurate off the tee and not end up somewhere in the 80s in greens in regulation.
Kyle Porter of CBS Sports and Kevin Van Valkenburg of ESPN highlighted McIlroy's deficiencies on the approach:
There were only four holes of note on the day for McIlroy. After starting his day with four pars, he carded a bogey on No. 5. He hit his tee shot into the fairway rough, sent his approach to the beach and then missed a possible par save from 11 feet out to card a five. The bogey was McIlroy's only hole above or below the par line on the front nine, and he made the turn at 37.
The back nine was a little more eventful. McIlroy started off by leaving a birdie putt 17 inches away from the hole on No. 10 before finally getting under par on the par-five 11th. Even that took a two-putt effort from 10 feet.
Another missed birdie on No. 13 and three solid saves of bad approaches led to No. 16, perhaps McIlroy's worst run of luck on any hole. The PGA Tour captured his second shot, which appeared to be putting him in eagle territory before rolling off the green and into a water hazard:
McIlroy missed a four-foot putt that would have saved par and took his second bogey. A beautiful shot off the tee at the par-three 17th allowed McIlroy to get back to even par, as he hit a shot from right around six feet out to close up the festivities. Another errant approach on No. 18 left him unable to do much but save par and get into the clubhouse.
McIlroy, at this point, is closer to being cut than contention. His experiences at Sawgrass have been split down the middle, with three cuts mixing in with three top-10 finishes. Justin Ray of Golf Channel also noted McIlroy has a weird affinity for the back nine:
A comeback at this point seems highly unlikely. McIlroy isn't chasing some mid-tier guy who did all the right things for one round. Day has been the best player in the world for the better part of a year now, and it's possible he winds up running away with this thing.
Spieth and McIlroy might just spend their weekend tussling for second in command.
Post-Round Reaction
McIlroy said the course played differently in the afternoon, per Will Gray of Golf Channel: “I don’t know what the guys were doing out there this morning, but I don’t think we saw the same golf course this afternoon. It was a little firmer, the wind got up a little bit, and those guys made the course look awfully easy this morning.”
McIlroy continued: "Today I just didn’t get on one of those runs. It was just one of those days where it was sort of in neutral. I couldn’t really get it going much at all.”
He also talked about struggles on the approach: "Distance control has been off. I’ve been hitting some short, hitting some long. I feel like there’s quite a bit of disparity between a three-quarter shot and a full shot and, yeah, probably something I need to work on a little bit."
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