Rory McIlroy one shot off the lead at the Players Championship
ONE SHOT OFF LEAD: Rory McIlroy shot a five-under 67 doing just that and sits just one shot out of the lead in the Players Championship. Pic: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Hitting four fairways is hardly the recipe for success at TPC Sawgrass, but Rory McIlroy shot a five-under 67 doing just that and sits just one shot out of the lead in the Players Championship.
“I certainly didn’t drive it the way I wanted to; didn’t hit it in as many fairways as I would have liked,” said McIlory, who missed 10 fairways trying to hit a cut shot off the tees but scrambled well with only two bogeys. “But any time I did miss a fairway I had a gap or shot or could do something with it. I’m not going to be able to ride my luck like that the rest of the week so I’m going to hit some balls and try to figure it out.”
McIlroy climbed within a shot of the lead shared by Lucas Glover, J.J. Spaun and Camilo Villegas, who all fired six-under 66s. He’s tied for fourth with Min Woo Lee, Billy Horschel and Akshay Bhatia. Max McGreevy is also at five-under with two holes left when play was suspended.
World number one Scottie Scheffler, trying to three-peat in the PGA Tour’s flagship event, shot three-under 69 and is lurking tied for 18th. Ireland’s Shane Lowry (72, T63) and Séamus Power (76, T116) have ground to make up in the second round Friday afternoon.
“I feel like I could have posted a little bit of a better number, but overall I’m pleased with the results,” said Scheffler. “I did some good things that I’ll look to hone in and maybe shoot a little lower tomorrow.”
McIlroy started fast on Thursday afternoon, making birdies out of the gate on one and two before giving both of them back on the third and seventh holes. But he got on a heater mid round, making four consecutive birdies on nine, 10, 11 and 12 to put himself in the thick of it at four-under.
His sloppiness off the tee cost him on the reachable par-five 16th, where he missed left and had to punch out and failed to make birdie. He missed a prime chance for birdie from just inside 10 feet on the island 17th.
“He has got to fix his driving. He was 140th of the 144 players today in driving accuracy,” Paul McGinley said on the Golf Channel’s “Live From” coverage. “He got lucky today. Every time he whiffed it into the trees, he seemed to have an angle to the greens.”
Indeed, McIlroy stole one on 18 after flaring his cut three-wood to the right into the trees and pine straw. Trying to punch his five-under just short of the green to try to secure a par on the toughest hole on the course, he got a bonus when it rolled up on the front of the green just eight feet below the hole for a closing birdie.
“You’re just hoping for a backswing and a gap, and I had both of those,” McIlroy said. “Just trying to chip-and-run a five-iron up around the front of the green and make four and get out of there. It was a bonus to get it up on the green and to hole the putt was a lovely way to finish.”
McIlroy opted not to talk about a heckling incident during Tuesday’s practice round when what turned out to be University of Texas golfer Luke Potter shouted “Just like the 2011 Masters!” when McIlroy hit left off the 18th tee. McIlroy took the kid’s phone and gave it to security, who escorted Potter off the property. Just the day before, Potter won his first collegiate tournament in the Hayt Invitational across the street at Sawgrass Country Club.
“Look, I just made a mistake, and I take ownership for it,” Potter told GolfChannel.com by phone. “I apologize for it.” When a reporter said “can I ask you about the shenanigans with the kid?” on Thursday, McIlroy said “No, you can’t, because I don’t want you to.”
“I’m really happy that I shot 67 today,” he added when pressed.
Glover set the morning pace with a nine-birdie 66, but he was caught in the afternoon by Spaun, who went bogey-free, and Villegas, who racked up eight birdies after a late-night phone lesson from coach Jose Campra in Singapore.
“It was just kind of one of those days where you just kind of take what the course gives you,” said Spaun. “Fortunately, not making a lot of mistakes and playing relatively stress-free golf kind of pushed me over the edge to playing really well.”
Spaun played with Chandler Phillips, who made three eagles on the day and briefly held a share of the lead. Phillips gave a lot of his good work back with a triple on the par-three eighth only to finish with another eagle on nine, becoming the first player to ever post three eagles in one Players round.
England’s Aaron Rai and Laurie Canter are among a crowd in a nine-way tie for ninth at four-under 68.
