“Rory McIlroy was the alpha in that group, all day. Now it looks like he’s going to shoot the worst score.”
For 14 and a half holes, Rory McIlroy was looking serene. By the 18th hole he was, according to Rich Beem, just trying to staunch the bleeding.
McIlroy, seeking to win his first ever Masters green jacket, was -4 after 14 holes and had not dropped a shot. His drive on the par-five 15th was exactly where he wanted it. His second shot had just too much on it and went off the back of the green, but the pin was placed to give him enough room to land a chip and run the ball close.
The 36-year-old overcooked that chip by two feet and the 15th green was unforgiving. The ball caught the slope with too much pace and rolled, agonisingly, into the water. McIlroy would eventually card a double bogey, and Paul McGinley offered an explanation as to why he lapsed in concentration.
Paul McGinley on Rory McIlroy double bogey
Paul McGinley, who captained McIlroy in the 2014 Ryder Cup, is on Masters duty, as a pundit and analyst, for Sky Sports.
As McIlroy moved on to par the 16th then drop further shots on 17, McGinley offered an explanation as to why the Northern Irishman may have made the costly error on 15.
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McGinley replayed sped-up footage to demonstrate how Akshay Bhatia, one of McIlroy’s playing partners, held up McIlroy by several minutes between his second and fourth shots. In a segment entitled ‘Losing Concentration’, McGinley noted how Bhatia found the water then took 10 practice swings before his chip found the green… but on the line of where McIlroy was looking to chip.
McIlroy then had to wait for Bhatia to mark his ball, on the green. The footage McGinley replayed showed that, after a long wait, McIlroy got out of his usual routine before he overhit his chip, and found the water.
In fairness to McIlroy, here is what Shane Lowry had to say about how tough that 15th green was playing, on Thursday:
But this golf course, honestly, it’s so firm and fast — that 15th green, by Sunday I don’t know what we’re going to do to try and stop the ball on the green. It’s very, very firm.”
To make matters worse, McIlroy then went over the back of the 17th green, chipped back but then three-putted for another double bogey. He had plummeted back to level par.
Rory McIlroy then hit a branch with his drive on the 18th and had to scramble to close out with a par for a round of 72 that should have been so much better. His playing partners, Bhatia (-2) and Ludvig Aberg (-4), ended up overtaking the four-time major winner over the closing stretch.
Shane Lowry got as low as -2, at the turn, but eventually birdied 18 to finish with a -1 round of 71.
MASTERS ROUND 1 LEADERBOARD
-7 Justin Rose
-4 Ludvig Aberg, Corey Conners, Scottie Scheffler
-3 Bryson DeChambeau, Tyrrell Hatton