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Rory McIlroy vowed to carry self-discipline, endurance and a “boring” strategy to his bid to win the one Main that has eluded him up to now and largely stored to that plan with a one-under 71 in Thursday’s first spherical of The Masters.
McIlroy would full a profession Grand Slam with a Masters victory.
“It was OK,” McIlroy mentioned. “I held it collectively nicely. It was slightly scrappy. The circumstances are tough. Onerous to totally decide to photographs on the market at occasions simply because the wind is – if it’s throughout, it feels down at one level after which into. It’s exhausting to decide to the place the wind route is at occasions.”
There have been worrying indicators early in McIlroy’s spherical, the place on the par-five 2nd he drove off the tee into the timber after which, after laying up, put his third shot into the gang behind the inexperienced and ended with bogey.
He bounced again with a birdie on the par-four third however one other bogey adopted on the par-three 4th, hinting at maybe one other messy begin to a event the place he has missed the minimize in two of the final three editions.
However a birdie on the eighth noticed him enter the flip stage and birdies on the twelfth and 14th promised higher just for a bogey on the seventeenth, after some missed birdie alternatives, left a barely bitter style.
“I believe after the sluggish begin type of making a couple of birdies across the flip was good,” McIlroy mentioned. “Just a little wasteful coming in. I had an excellent likelihood for birdie on 15 in the course of the golf green and didn’t take that. Missed a shortish one on 16 after which the bogey on 17. Most likely turned a 3 beneath right into a one beneath there on the finish.
“However total nonetheless not a nasty rating, and clearly a number of golf left to play.”
McIlroy was grouped with Xander Schauffele and world No 1 Scottie Scheffler, who shot a six-under 66, to sit down only a stroke off chief Bryson DeChambeau after 18 holes.
REPORT: DeChambeau fires 65 to guide Masters
Scheffler’s bogey-free spherical was precisely the type of constant, calm golf that McIlroy is aiming to supply himself in Friday’s second spherical.
“You simply focus by yourself recreation however it’s nice to play alongside Scottie, who’s the perfect participant on the planet proper now, and to see how he’s getting himself across the golf course,” he mentioned.
“In case you take a look at Scottie in comparison with the remainder of the sector, the quantity of bogey-free rounds he performs and he shoots is phenomenal, and that’s the key to successful Main championships and successful big-time golf tournaments is extra limiting the errors reasonably than making a ton of birdies.
“I made three bogeys at this time, which is okay on the market in these circumstances, however I simply must tidy it up slightly bit to attempt to sustain with him.”
© Agence France-Presse
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