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Rory McIlroy must go low after up-and-down day, says Butch Harmon

Butch Harmon

Golf Columnist

Friday 13 May 2016 00:56, UK

CHARLOTTE, NC - MAY 08: (L) Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland and (R) Adam Scott of Australia walk down the seventh fairway during the final round of the W
Image: Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott sit nine and ten strokes off the pace respectively

Butch Harmon believes Rory McIlroy needs a big recovery after a slow start to the week at the Players Championship, where he also noticed similarities between world No 1 Jason Day and 14-time major champion Tiger Woods.

What we saw today were two very different golf courses. This morning, no wind and soft greens saw everyone take advantage of it, but his afternoon the wind came up and the greens got firmer. That meant only a couple of the later guys were able to shoot good scores.

Rory McIlroy had an up-and-down day. One minute he would look like he was playing pretty good and would make a birdie to get something going, only to then give it back.

Image: McIlroy mixed two birdies with as many bogeys

Looking at today, the likes of McIlroy, Rickie Fowler and Adam Scott are going to have come back tomorrow with a really good round. They'll need something well in to the 60s to have a chance to really get up there.

This is not as easy of a golf course as the early players made it look today, so it's going to be interesting to see what happens when the tee times flop around tomorrow.

Tiger-like?

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Jason Day had a perfect card with nine pars and nine birdies - you can't really do much better than that. On his day, he is the type of player who can take over a golf course.

Jason Day of Australia reacts on the 15th green during the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship on May 12, 2016
Image: Day holds a two-shot lead after the opening round

He's really starting to remind me of Tiger Woods in his heyday. He putts good, he drives good, he hits it far and he doesn't really have any weaknesses at the moment.

The putting in particular was really on today. The putts he was making weren't just short ones; he was facing those in the 15 to 20 feet range and knocking them in to the heart of the cup.

He has won six times in his past 16 starts and the guy's just unbelievable. I'm telling you, when he gets it going, nobody catches him.

Jordan Spieth of the United States and Jason Day of Australia walk on the 17th green during the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship
Image: The world No 1 became only the fifth player to post a 63 at TPC Sawgrass

Day got the best of the breaks today by playing this morning and he took advantage of it. Those who played this morning had to do that in the situation and they did.

He's now coming out tomorrow afternoon, where there's talk of possible thunderstorms, and it'll be interesting to see how he does.

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