Rory McIlroy got off to another hot start on Thursday, firing a first-round 65 to take a two-shot lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
The Northern Ireland star, who won the event in Orlando in 2018 and has top-10 finishes in his last five appearances, had a two-shot lead with afternoon starters still on the course.
“I feel there’s a nice flow to this golf course where you can really build a score,” McIlroy said.
“You have par-fives, one every few holes, and you’ve got a couple of scorable par-fours. As long as you don’t do anything stupid and you keep it in play, you feel like you can sort of methodically build a score on this golf course.
“I played the par-fives particularly well, and that was the bulk of the score,” added McIlroy, who had three birdies and a 41-foot eagle putt to play the four par-fives in five-under.
McIlroy teed off on 10 and missed an eight-foot birdie chance at his opening hole. He was unable to get up and down from off the green and made bogey at 11.
But he followed a two-putt birdie at the par-five 12th by a birdie from the fringe at 13.
He rolled in his 41-foot eagle putt at 16 then birdied 18 to make the turn four-under.
Back-to-back birdies at the third and fourth saw him grab the solo lead and he made his last birdie of the day at the par-five sixth.
McIlroy said iron play was the key to his success on the par-fives.
“I hit a four-iron into 12 and a four-iron into 6. They were probably two of the best long irons I hit in a while. So when I start hitting long irons like that, I know my swing’s in a pretty good place. Seeing shots like that certainly gives me some confidence.”
Three players – Beau Hossler, JJ Spaun and former FedEx Cup champion Billy Horschel – shared second on five-under-par 67.
Spaun had five birdies without a bogey, Hossler bagged six birdies and Horschel had five birdies and an eagle at 16 – where he landed his second shot 10 feet from the pin.
Horschel, who played in the afternoon, called his round “really good”.
He added: “When I did miss a fairway, fortunately I got some really good lies that I could advance up near the green.”
Half a dozen players were a further stroke back on 68, where Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell was joined by South Korean Im Sung-jae, Australian Adam Scott, England’s Ian Poulter and Americans Charles Howell and Will Zalatoris – the reigning PGA Tour rookie of the year.
World No 1 Jon Rahm of Spain, playing the tournament for the first time, opened with an even-par 72 that featured four birdies and four bogeys.
One of those bogeys included a shocking missed putt from within a foot at the par-three seventh.
Rahm, who momentarily appeared to be halting his stroke but didn’t, and left the putt short.
“I wish I could give you all the excuses in the world, but no,” he said. “It just didn’t feel good in my hands, and I tried to stop, and I didn’t. I just simply didn’t stop. I don’t know. It was very odd.
“It’s not like it affected my play the rest of the day because I played really good,” he said. “But sitting at one-under I feel like would feel a lot better than even par. It just sucks to give that one away.”
© Agence France-Presse
