Rory McIlroy still looked a work in progress during the opening stages of the WGC-Cadillac Championship in Doral, Miami.
The 23-year-old spent all weekend working with coach Michael Bannon to iron out a flaw in his backswing, but admitted it was not a quick fix and soon found trouble as he began his opening round on the back nine of the Blue Monster course.
McIlroy’s opening drive found a fairway bunker, his second ended in the rough and from there he could only find more sand short of the green on the 551-yard par five.
He did however splash out to two feet to save par, and also got up and down for par on the next after missing the green from the ideal spot on the right of the fairway.
Finding more sand on the 12th meant no birdie on the 603-yard par five, leaving McIlroy level par and three behind early leaders Keegan Bradley and Mike Hendry.
He eventually signed for a round of 73.
Playing partner Tiger Woods had birdied the 11th and 12th to reach two under, while the final member of the group, England’s Luke Donald, had found water with his opening tee shot but recovered with a birdie on the next to be level par.
In the end Woods made nine birdies and finished with a share of the first-round lead after a 6-under 66 at the WGC-Cadillac Championship, finishing with a par from the fringe on the par-3 ninth hole.
Woods carded nine birdies for the first time since the first round of 2012 BMW Championship.
Tiger was working on the practice green on Wednesday, working on a tip he received from fellow pro Steve Stricker.
"Whatever 'Strick' says, I'm going to do," Woods said. "That dude is one of the best putters that's ever lived."
