If a fan only looked at the leaderboard after day one of the Players Championship, they would have absolutely no idea of the drama involved in Rory McIlroy’s opening round at TPC Sawgrass.
Rory McIlroy goes into the second round in a brilliant position after opening up his Players Championship week with a five under par round of 67 around TPC Sawgrass. The 35-year-old made seven birdies to leave himself one shot off the early lead in Florida.
However, that only tells part of the story. McIlroy was tied for 140th for driving accuracy on the first day after hitting just four of 14 fairways.
But the four-time major champion was outstanding with his approach play and his putting. And you would imagine that he will be the one that the likes of Lucas Glover and Camilo Villegas will be concerned about ahead of the second round.
Rory McIlroy suggests how he expects TPC Sawgrass to change after the opening round of the Players Championship
What is interesting is that McIlroy seemingly felt that the conditions could have been a lot more favourable to him. Obviously, there is a significant difference in how Sawgrass plays in March and May – when the tournament has previously been staged.
But it seems that McIlroy was caught off-guard by just how soft parts of the course were, as he was asked how he is expecting the course to change over the rest of the week.
“I don’t know. The greens, I would have expected the greens to be a little firmer today than what they were. Every other – like fairways and run-offs and the surrounds of the greens are getting a little bit firmer, but the greens still feel a little bit mushy. Hopefully it firms up. I’d really like it to. Obviously it puts a premium on getting the ball in play, something that I didn’t do as well today,” he said.
“But I would like the conditions to get a little firmer as the week goes on. Maybe a little bit of wind and more dry conditions, it’ll get there by the weekend.”
What McIlroy needs to change if he is going to win his second Players Championship title
McIlroy’s driving has been such a strength in recent years. It has arguably been when he has got closer to the green that he has tended to hurt his chances of winning more often.
However, that all flipped on its head on Thursday, with McIlroy ninth for strokes gained putting and third for strokes gained approach – according to the PGA Tour website.
It is obviously easier said than done, but if McIlroy can put it all together over the rest of the week, it is hard to imagine that anyone will be able to prevent him winning his second Players Championship title. But McIlroy noted how imperative it is that he starts driving the ball better again.
“Yeah, I certainly didn’t drive it the way I wanted to. Didn’t hit it in as many fairways as I would have liked.
Yeah, I think with the greens being so receptive, you can get away with it a little bit. I’m not going to be able to get away with it for the rest of the week. Sort of rode my luck out there a little bit. But I’m trying to hit this cut shot into play. Missing right off the tee here on any hole is way better than missing left. Just sort of hitting this cut sort of up into the wind, and obviously you don’t need to hit it too far here, so yeah, just going to go hit some balls here and figure it out and try to hit a few more fairways tomorrow,” he added.
The erratic nature of McIlroy’s game this year may be a concern heading into major championship season. However, he can perhaps take some encouragement that there have been signs, throughout the bag, that something special could be about to happen if he even gets close to piecing it all together.
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