Rory McIlroy frustrated by five dropped shots in opening 71 at The Memorial
Thursday 2 June 2016 22:03, UK
Rory McIlroy was again counting the cost of "too many mistakes" as he carded an erratic 71 in the first round of the star-studded Memorial Tournament in Ohio.
McIlroy also caused a few raised eyebrows after deciding to revert to a conventional putting grip, feeling that he did not putt well at the K Club in his last outing despite lifting his home Irish Open title.
The world No 3, playing alongside Jordan Spieth, was one over par with two holes remaining at Muirfield Village before salvaging a respectable one-under round with birdies at the eighth and ninth.
McIlroy started with a bogey at the 10th after driving into a fairway bunker, but a solid 230-yard second to the long 11th set up a two-putt birdie and he rolled in a confident 18-foot putt for another gain at the 12th.
But he made a mess of the short 16th when he blocked his tee-shot into sand and his escape ran over the green into the fringe before he fluffed his chip for par and then saw his four-foot bogey putt lip out.
He also failed to get up an down from sand at the fourth in between two further birdies, and he sent the fans scurrying for cover with a wild second to the long seventh and ran up his third bogey of the day.
But McIlroy cracked a superb iron to 12 feet at the tough eighth and rolled in the putt, and he also converted a precise wedge to eight feet at the next to sneak back under the card.
"I was happy to salvage something out of the round," said McIlroy, who was seven shots adrift of early leader Dustin Johnson. "It felt like every time I hit a birdie, I made a bogey. I think I hit 11 fairways, and so I drove it well enough to put myself in position to go at pins and hit greens.
"I just made a few too many mistakes out there. It's penal if you don't hit the fairway on this course, it really can punish you. The fairway bunkers are pretty deep and the rough's pretty thick, but I feel off the tee I was good and gave myself quite a few chances.
"Six birdies is great, but the five dropped shots was the rest of the story. I just need to limit the mistakes, but hopefully I've got all them out of my system and I can go around over the next three days and play the golf that I know that I can play."
McIlroy had been putting with a cross-handed grip since the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral in early March, but he reverted to a conventional technique despite earning his first win of the year at the K Club.
"I had 127 putts the week that I won the Irish Open, so it's not as if I putted particularly well that week," he added. "I won that golf tournament with my ball-striking alone.
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"Conventional is what I've done my whole career. I knew I needed to make a change, and I felt like my pace wasn't really good with left hand low, especially going into this week where the greens are fast. But then going into Oakmont, the greens are so fast there, and you have to have so much feel and touch.
"I felt like just going back to conventional was going to give me the best chance here and obviously there. It's a mental thing for me as well. But I feel like I'm definitely on the right track, and I holed some really nice putts out there today, and I got some good feeling. Hopefully, I can continue to stick with it and see improvement."
