Rory McIlroy recovered sufficiently from a again harm to start his defence of the Gamers Championship however he ended spherical one seven pictures off the tempo.
The world quantity two solely arrived at TPC Sawgrass on the eve of the PGA Tour’s flagship match, having opted to remain at house for remedy on the harm that compelled him to tug out of final week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.
He confirmed no apparent indicators of discomfort in crushing his opening drive 329 yards down the center of the green, however he took 73 extra pictures for a two-over par complete, with birdie putts on the sixteenth and seventeenth holes grazing the sting of the cup.
“It was wonderful,” he mentioned when requested how his again felt through the spherical.
“Essentially the most discomfort was when the ball was under my toes or with chipping.
“However it’s bizarre. I performed on Friday; it is not as if I’ve taken a ton of day without work, I simply felt unbelievably rusty on the market.”
McIlroy’s Ryder Cup team-mate Sepp Straka is alongside three People setting the clubhouse tempo on 5 below.
Austrian Straka chipped in for an eagle three on the par-five sixteenth in his bogey-free 67 to affix Maverick McNealy, Lee Hodges and Sahith Theegala atop the leaderboard.
“We have been lucky to play within the afternoon with hardly any wind and the greens so much softer,” mentioned Straka, referring to the heavy rain that doused the course earlier within the day.
England’s Tommy Fleetwood was amongst these enjoying within the worst of the climate. He briefly reached 5 below, after what he known as a “full bonus” run of eagle-birdie-birdie on Sawgrass’ notoriously tough sixteenth, seventeenth and 18th holes.
Having began on the tenth, the world quantity three then birdied the second however a torrential downpour that halted play for round 25 minutes checked his momentum, and successive bogeys on the fourth and fifth holes dropped him again into the pack.
He’s in good firm on three below, with Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg, Norwegian Viktor Hovland and American Xander Schauffele additionally having fun with strong begins.
The rain delay meant 4 gamers have been unable to complete their opening rounds because the solar set and darkness fell.
Amongst them is unheralded American Austin Smotherman, who will return at 08:50 native time on Friday to face a 15-foot birdie putt on the ninth gap – his 18th – to take the first-round lead.
In quickly fading gentle, Smotherman hit his third shot on the par-five gap into the guts of the inexperienced, however whereas his enjoying companions opted to complete the opening, he determined to mark his ball and look forward to the morning gentle and more energizing greens.
