JB Holmes leads WGC-Cadillac Championship, Rory McIlroy struggles again
Friday 6 March 2015 00:39, UK
JB Holmes fired a sensational tournament-record 62 to claim a commanding lead at the WGC-Cadillac Championship as Rory McIlroy's poor form in Florida continued on day one.
The feared Blue Monster course at the Trump Doral failed to tame the red-hot Holmes, who carded eight birdies and an eagle in his flawless opening effort that earned him a remarkable four-shot lead over the world-class field.
But McIlroy, who missed the cut on his 2015 PGA Tour debut at the Honda Classic last week, struggled to find any sort of consistency and stuttered to a one-over 73, 11 shots adrift of the runaway leader.
Holmes served notice of his attacking intent shortly after starting at the 10th, opening with two birdies before a sublime second shot to the long 12th shaved the hole and settled a few inches from the cup to set up a tap-in for eagle.
The American picked up further shots at 16 and 17 to turn in 30, and he added further birdies at the first and third before his momentum stalled with a run of three pars.
But Holmes pulled clear of the pack with two more birdies at seven and eight to get him to 10 under, and a closing par capped a superb day's work.
"It was a great day for me," Holmes told Sky Sports 4. "I hit it real good again today and made some putts. I made a couple of long ones and hit a couple of real good iron shots in there.
"I had a couple of bad swings with the driver and I made birdie on those two holes so I was able to get out of it just fine. It was a great day and you don't get those very often."
The 32-year-old ended the day four clear of Ryan Moore, who rolled in eight birdies before undoing much of his excellent iron-play and putting with a disappointing final hole as he found water on his way to a double-bogey six.
Moore's poor finish
After birdies at the first and fourth, Moore propelled himself up the leaderboard with a sparkling run of six birdies in seven holes around the turn before his untidy finish dropped him back to six under par.
Moore revealed he had "found something" in his swing while practising last week, adding: "I controlled the ball better than I have for years and rolled in some nice putts out there today. It was a great round of golf and I'm not going to let the last hole ruin it for me."
Frenchman Alexander Levy took an instant liking to the Blue Monster, nailing a 20-foot putt for an eagle at the eighth and adding birdies at 11 and 12 to get to five under. But he slipped back with bogeys at the 14th and 15th, although he converted a pure approach to seven feet at the last to return a creditable 68.
Levy shares third with American pair Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler, while Henrik Stenson birdied two of his last four holes to hand in a three-under 69 along with Waste Management Phoenix Open champion Brooks Koepka.
Adam Scott had an encouraging first appearance of the year, and showed little signs of struggling to adjust to a conventional-length putter as the Australian opened with a two-under 70 featuring five birdies, one bogey and a scrappy six at the 14th.
Jamie Donaldson is also among the group at two under, while defending champion Patrick Reed got to four under after six holes before his game deserted him, and four bogeys saw him settle for a level-par 72.
McIlroy was forced to dig deep on the front nine after making another uncertain start, dropping shots at 11 and 17 before wasting a perfect drive at the 18th - pulling his iron too far left for his ball to hold the green and avoid the water.
Live World Golf Championship
He lifted his mood with birdies at the fourth and fifth before giving one back at the sixth, but he then holed superb putts from the fringe at both the next two holes for a birdie and eagle respectively.
But a wayward tee shot at the par-three ninth landed in thick rough, and he could only hack into a greenside bunker before doing well to roll in a 12-foot putt to limit the damage to a bogey-four.
"It is very good on the range and it is very good in normal play when I'm not playing a tournament," McIlroy said. "Then I've got a card in my hand the last couple weeks and it just hasn't quite been there.
"It's nice you can get round rounds this week and sort of try to play your way into some sort of rhythm. I don't feel like it's that far away. That's the frustrating thing."
