World No 1 Rory McIlroy once again made a strong start on Thursday when he stormed to the first round lead at the World Golf Championship – Mexico Championship, writes ANDRE HUISAMEN.
McIlroy opened with a 6 under par 65 at the Club de Golf Chapultepec as he reverted back to his old putter for the event.
And it paid dividends as he rolled in five birdies and an eagle (on his second hole of the day).
The Northern Irishman’s aggressive approach to the greens was again as strong as ever and a pin-point 4 iron into the par 5 11th left him with 15 feet.
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He made no mistake as he got his round up and running with the early eagle.
After finishing as the runner-up last year, the 30-year-old is aiming to become only the second player to win all four of the World Golf Championships by claiming victory in Mexico this week.
Leader by 2 at @WGCMexico.
Have a day, @McIlroyRory. ? pic.twitter.com/ieUxEyGKzz
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 21, 2020
Three-time winner of the event Dustin Johnson still remains as the only player to have managed that feat.
McIlroy, though, will take a two-shot lead into Friday’s second round ahead of Bubba Watson and the FedEx Cup leader Justin Thomas, who are second on 4 under par.
South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen also made a solid start to the competition with a first round 68 to finish on 3 under par in T4 alongside Billy Horschel, Corey Connors and Bryson DeChambeau.
The top-ranked South African carded six birdies throughout his round but three bogeys prevented him from an extremely low start.
Oosthuizen leads a strong contingent of South Africans competing in Mexico this week with only the United States fielding more players at the event.
Erik van Rooyen was 1 under for his opening round, while Branden Grace and Justin Harding went even par and will start their second rounds in T19.
Last week’s winner at the Dimension Data Pro-Am at Fancourt, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, had to settle for a 1 over par 72 but given the fact that there will be no cut there is a lot of money is on offer for three good rounds.
Photo: Rob Carr/Getty Images
