Coming off a slightly disappointing season in which he won twice but never contended in the majors, McIlroy was vexed by the greens in his first competitive round here, missing birdie putts from inside 10 feet at the second and third holes, and from just outside 10 feet at the fourth.
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Rory McIlroy opened his 2015-16 USPGA Tour campaign by shooting a four-under 68 to finish five strokes off the lead after the first round of the Frys.com Open yesterday.
It gave him a one-shot lead Thursday over Jhonattan Vegas in ideal scoring conditions at Silverado, which has such subtle movement in the greens that the course doesn’t always yield low scores even when players have a short iron into the putting surface. “Definitely a step in the right direction”. The world’s No. 3 player had numerous birdie chances and didn’t convert almost as many as he would have liked.
“It was better from tee to green than I was at the Tour Championship a couple weeks ago”, said McIlroy, who last won on Tour at the Wells Fargo in May.
Harold Varner III, who joins Tiger Woods as the only players of black heritage on the PGA Tour this year, made a strong rookie debut with a 65.
South Korea’s D.H. Lee and Justin Thomas both carded 66, while England’s Justin Rose and Canada’s Graham DeLaet highlight a group of six golfers on 67. He finished the back nine with five straight birdies for a 29 and cooled only slightly on the front nine. This is only his fifth tournament dating to the PGA Championship, when he returned from a two-month hiatus to heal his injured ankle.
Discussing the appeal of the tournament, McIlroy said there was more than golf to interest him in the region.
“Expected vineyards, wine, good food”, McIlroy said Wednesday.
He said: “It was a pretty solid score and I’m in a good position going in to the next three days”.
Yet McIlroy and Rose were among eight players who entered a non-sanctioned match play event called the Turkish Airlines World Golf Final in October 2012, which was staged at the same time as the Frys.com Open. Just didn’t hole that many putts.
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“I’d never been to this area before but you can see why everyone is relaxed”.
