Rory McIlroy - 4 Time Major Winner

Barnaboy

Made a real mess of the par 5s. Level par for the four today. Still heading for his third best ever opening round here. If he can par out from here, I'm sure he would be happy. Can't be easy playing with Scottie. Guy is scary good.

big_drive

Rory doing well. Needs to stay disciplined, playing with Scottie could force him into trying something stupid to try stay in touch.

Barnaboy

Bad miss on 16, such a great opportunity. Shame.

Mushy

Awful putt on 16 again, that distance amd par 5s killing him

bobster453

Finish in negative figures today will be a great result for him and hopefully improve tomorrow.

Doesnt want to be going into weekend more than 5 behind and hoping for crumbs from the likes of de Chambeau and Scheffler

FixdePitchmark

His putting is terrible...but was also a bad draw.

Fascinating night for stats ..you can literally see strokes gained flow out over the 18 holes with the two of them.

Scottie Also terrible on greens ..but when you get closer to hole golf is easier...

AdamD

Playing a different sport to Scheffler right now

FixdePitchmark

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122007965#Comment_122007965

actually remarkable how he scores so well with all them flaws...

DellyBelly

Poor finish...middle of fairway on 15 only makes par, poor putt on 16 from close in...bad bogey on 17 and struggling again on 18...

bobster453

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122007982#Comment_122007982

Maybe he should be thankful a lot of the best went to LIV or he wouldnt get a look in..instead of hoping they all play happy families again😀

The Big Easy

Decent round in the circumstances from Rory. Seemed to stay patient for the most part, feel like in the past after that bogey on 2 he'd start pushing and play himself out of it.

I think it's crazy to be working on a takeaway drill and changing the flight on your wedges during the Masters but hey ho.

Tomorrow will be illustrative

big_drive

Excellent opening round for McIlroy, top 15 or so after Round 1 is a fine spot. Tomorrow hopefully he pushing into top 10 to be set up for weekend

FixdePitchmark

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008121#Comment_122008121

It all looked terrible..and hanging on by an edge......

spacecoyote

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008102#Comment_122008102

Was thinking same, very close to biggest tourney of the year for him and working on fundamental technical changes.

Hard to have confidence standing over a wedge dealing with Augusta greens and fairway slopes with a completely different technique

AlanWatts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008121#Comment_122008121

Scheffler makes him look like he is an inexperienced rookie. Cant see how playing the Par 5s in level par could be seen as excellent. Appreciate he is changing his swing a bit and he is one of the few golfers who can change on the fly and still compete but he needed to be -3 min to be still in the tournament. Scheffler can sleepwalk to 3 more 69s and finish -15. Now he is under pressure to do something special and thats not the place to be in Round 2. I would say he has no chance of winning and could easily move towards the cut line rather than closer to the lead. Hope I'm wrong and he gets inspired.

slave1

You gotta bomb it at Augusta to allow irons onto small pin areas and then putt very well, unfortunately the iron/putting lets him down

Mantis Toboggan

Best opening round since 2018 so that's a positive. Will need to be more clinical today. If he starts to chase it, things will go south quickly. He needs to remain patient. 69 Today will be a great score in that wind.

OEP

I love the hyperbolic comments based off 1 round "Rory can't compete with these guys" - Scheffler aside, as he is streets ahead of everyone in world golf at the moment. Still doesn't mean Scheffler will win because guess what, that's golf! Is Rahm unable to compete with these guys too because he shot +1? Rory hasn't been good all year, particularly his irons so it's hardly that surprising that he struggled out there. Did well to hang in there on the front 9 and could easily have been a couple of shots better. His chances don't look great but if he goes out and shoots a couple of shots better than Scheffler today then he hopefully won't be too far away.

monkeybutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008839#Comment_122008839

if anything the comments so far have been pretty fair and balanced

its usually the sunday that the freaks come out

Russman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008839#Comment_122008839

Kind of agree with you, but at the same time (and I'm a huge Rory fan and follower) its hard to see him beating Scheffler today. Looking at them yesterday I got the feeling they could play 10 times and Rory still wouldn't sniff him. Obviously that's probably not correct, but in the form he's in, Scheffler is just head and shoulders above him. Admittedly there's a bit of hyperbole, but I'm beginning to wonder if Scheffler is just in a great run of form or if he's going to end up a top 10 of all time kind of player. Maybe the absence of the LIV guys week in week out makes him look better than he is, but he's beginning to look like peak Tiger levels above the rest of them.

I saw an article last night from 2020 saying that only once in the previous 14 Masters was the winner not in the top 10 after the first round - the exception was Tiger in 11th after R1 in 2019. None of the previous 12 winners shot higher than 70 in R1 either. Sincerely hope I'm wrong but I don't think Rory has an earthly this week. Can easily see another 71 today for him, with 67/68 for Scheffler. He'll probably be top 10 though.

OEP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009011#Comment_122009011

I said as much - Scheffler is streets ahead. Of everyone though, not just Rory. I also don't think Rory's chances are high but it's golf, you never know. The response was to comments that Rory can't compete with these "guys" - guys being plural.

Scheffler has been in this form since this time two years ago, and has played in 7 majors and not won. I wouldn't be handing him the trophy just yet.

AlanWatts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009451#Comment_122009451

Would agree with this especially around Augusta, ur always one bad swing from a double. Here's hoping DeShambles and Scottie have an even par day and Rory gets some breaks.

boardise

Barring any freak weather , one would think something around -16 will be close to a winning score. Rory might need an average of three 67s to get in the mix. He probably has a low one in him …but three doesn't seem on from the sloppiness he showed on day one.

Steve Palmer made an interesting point in the Racing Post that Rory might have a better chance of bagging a Masters if he could break the Major drought elsewhere. Could be something in this -I tend to think his best chance of no. 5 is The Open.

sReq | uTeK

It's difficult to win a master day one, but it's VERY easy to lose it. That's what Rory has done the majority of the time and played himself out of it day one.

Happy to see him with a wise head on his shoulders and grind it out.

His game, his swing, his irons, it's a work in progress, don't agree with him changing it before Augusta, but isn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again with the same results.

OEP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122010076#Comment_122010076

I don't think he had hope with the way he was swinging so probably thought this was his only chance. Also there are three more majors and with them so condensed, there isn't a lot of time for changing after this weekend.

testtech05

Butch Harman on Sky just mentioned he thinks the course will be more difficult for the later starters today, not ideal for Rorys teetime. Be interesting to see how it plays out.

Mantis Toboggan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122010712#Comment_122010712

Absolutely,wind is to in increase as the day goes on, going to be extremely tough especially with his high ball flight.

AlanWatts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122010720#Comment_122010720

Course is playing very tough already, although Homa is doing a great job so far. McIlroy needs to gain at least 2 shots on the leaders today. Wont be easy.

bobster453

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122010076#Comment_122010076

No its doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result each time.

Guess we are all guilty of that with this game😀

DellyBelly

Another par 5 and only a par....needs to do better..loses another shot to Scottie who birdies it