Rory McIlroy admits he needs to improve after late win in WGC opener
Thursday 24 March 2016 09:37, UK
Rory McIlroy admits he’ll need to improve on his tournament-opening performance if he’s going to make a serious challenge to defend his WGC-Dell Match Play title.
The world No 3 was far from his best during his group match against Thorbjorn Olesen and found himself two holes down with five to play before being presented a late victory.
After McIlroy had found the water at the 13th and handed the Dane the advantage, Olesen went on to bogey three of his final holes and shank a chip at the last to give the Northern Irishman a 1up win.
"I do feel fortunate," McIlroy told Sky Sports. "I wasn't up until the final hole and I feel a little bit bad for Thorbjorn. He played pretty solidly but just had a bad finish and that sort of opened the door for me.
"After I went two down after 13, a switch flicked on with me and I started to hit some quality shots. I was a little flat for the front nine but coming in I started playing some good golf and I'm happy with that.
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"I'll need to play a bit better than I played today if I want to get through to the weekend. The quality of that match for both of us wasn't too good."
Only five of the top 10 seeds kicked off their tournament with a victory, with Jason Day appearing to suffer from a back injury during his 3&2 win over Graeme McDowell and world No 1 Jordan Spieth beating Jamie Donaldson by the same scoreline.
Spieth won three of the opening six holes and briefly moved four ahead, before recovering from a three-hole stutter along the back nine to seal the win with a birdie at the 16th.
"I think in total we were a few under and on a day of gusting winds on a tricky course that was very solid playing," Spieth told Sky Sports. "It was a great start but then around 11 and 12 I let it kind of slip away.
"Fortunately during those and 13 I only lost one stroke. I really could have potentially lost all three so held it together there and finished it off on 16."
Watch the WGC-Dell Match Play throughout the week live on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf. Live coverage resumes on Thursday from 6pm.
