Rory McIlroy made a dismal begin on the Players Championship as he fell to 4 over par in his opening spherical at TPC Sawgrass on Thursday.
The Northern Irishman had arrived on the PGA Tour’s flagship occasion looking for a return to the world primary spot, however little went proper for him on day one after starting with a double bogey.
Playing the again 9 first, he regained a stroke with a birdie on the eleventh however additional bogeys on the fifteenth, first and third left him properly behind the early leaders Collin Morikawa and Chad Ramey on six underneath.
McIlroy did produce some magic to arrange an eagle probability with a positive shot from underneath the bushes vast of the sixteenth fairway, however he then three-putted to squander the chance.
McIlroy was taking part in in a high-profile three-ball together with Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm, all of whom have held the highest spot on this planet rankings this 12 months.
There was not a lot early spark from the present holder of the title, Rahm, or Scheffler both however each had been at a gradual two underneath par with six holes to play.
The early drama was supplied by American Hayden Buckley, who landed a gap in a single on the course’s well-known seventeenth, the island gap.
He adopted up with successive birdies on the 18th and first to briefly transfer to 5 underneath par however he later fell away and signed for a one-over 73 after double bogeys on the sixth and eighth.
Australian Min Woo Lee put himself among the many early front-runners after six birdies in his opening 13 holes however he completed on 4 underneath after closing with back-to-back bogeys.
That meant he fell behind Canadian Taylor Pendrith, who was 5 underneath after 17, the spotlight of his spherical being an eagle on the par-five sixteenth.
Morikawa’s very good early begin included an eagle on the second whereas Ramey collected six birdies in his opening 11 holes.
England’s Danny Willett, who hoped to make the minimize on this match for the primary time in six makes an attempt, was among the many early starters and recovered to put up a level-par 72 after dropping a shot on his first gap.