McIlroy Finds Some Fizz in Atlanta

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Rory McIlroy's bid for a FedEx Cup title got off to a slow start at theTour Championship on Thursday before signing for a round of 69.

McIlroy is one of five players who know victory at East Lake would also see them secure the overall FedEx Cup title won by Sweden's Henrik Stenson last year, the others being Chris Kirk, Billy Horschel, Bubba Watson and Hunter Mahan.

And the world number one was just two off the lead after playing his first nine holes in one under par as the 29-strong field found scoring conditions unexpectedly difficult.

McIlroy pushed his drive on the first and saw his attempted recovery shot clip a tree and travel only 40 yards, but the 25-year-old's third shot grazed the side of the hole as it rolled past and he holed from eight feet for par.

A superb approach to two feet set up McIlroy's first birdie of the day on the third, but he promptly gave that shot back after a poor drive on the fourth and hit an even worse drive on the next.

Fortunately for the fourt-time major winner, his ball bounced out of the trees and allowed him to find the green with his approach and make par, while he holed from six feet on the sixth to get back into red figures.

That did not last long after two visits to sand on the seventh cost him a bogey, but McIlroy again rebounded immediately with a birdie from eight feet on the eighth.

Another birdie chance went begging from 10 feet on the par-five ninth, but at one under McIlroy was just two behind American duo Ryan Palmer and Patrick Reed, with playing partner Watson, Kirk and Cameron Tringale all on two under.

McIlroy's long and straight driving has been his major weapon this season, helping him win the Open Championship, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and US PGA in consecutive appearances.

However, the Northern Irishman was struggling to find the fairways at East Lake and another errant drive found a fairway bunker on the 10th, from where he had to settle for par.

McIlroy then bogeyed the 11th after duffing his second shot from the fringe and dropped back to level par, three behind Reed, former FedEx winner Bill Haas and Masters champion Watson, who had holed from eight feet on the 10th.

Ryan Palmer held the clubhouse lead on one under after a 69, while Justin Rose struggled to a two-over-par 72.

Tournament officials had already announced that Friday's tee times had been brought forward by three hours due to bad weather being forecast.

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Zanotti Strike Raises Medical Questions

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At the KLM Open two leading players questioned why there was no ambulance on site after Fabrizio Zanotti was struck on the head by a ball on Thursday.

Zanotti was on the 16th fairway at Kennemer Golf Club when he was hit by an errant drive from France’s Alexandre Kaleka on the 14th.

According to the European Tour, Zanotti did not lose consciousness and received treatment on the course from a doctor and a paramedic before he was taken to hospital. The 31-year-old from Paraguay was accompanied by fellow players Felipe Aguilar and Ricardo Gonzalez, who withdrew from the tournament to stay with their friend.

Zanotti was later discharged from hospital and wrote on Twitter that he would now take a few weeks off, but the incident caused a delay of almost two hours and left Italian pairEdoardo Molinari and Matteo Manassero particularly unhappy.

In reference to the death of caddie Iain McGregor in Madeira earlier this season, Molinari wrote on Twitter: “Seems like fabrizanotti is ok. How is it possible there is no ambulance on site after what happened in Madeira.”

Manassero added on Twitter: “Let’s hope now that the second incident will guarantee ambulances on site for everybody’s safety.”

In a statement released to Press Association Sport, tournament director Miguel Vidaor said: “Fabrizio received impeccable medical care and attention from the team of doctors and paramedics who were already on site as part of the tournament and who are fully equipped to deal with any medical emergency.

“They subsequently deemed it necessary for Fabrizio to go to hospital as a precaution for further assessment and we are pleased to report that he has been discharged after receiving the all clear.”

KLM Open director Daan Slooter added: “We have worked with The European Tour to upgrade the medical provision at this year’s KLM Open. Unfortunately, there was not an ambulance on site, as requested by The European Tour, since we took the decision not to have one because the first aid provision on site was capable of dealing with an incident like this, and indeed any other medical emergency.

“The hospitals nearby and the ambulance system in Holland could respond quickly if further assistance was required, and indeed the ambulance responded within the parameters of Dutch law. In light of what happened with Fabrizio, we now have an ambulance on site for the remainder of the tournament.”

Zanotti had started his round from the 10th and was level par after six holes when the incident occurred. Molinari carded an opening 66 to lie one shot off the lead held by defending champion Joost Luiten and Scotland’s Jamie McLeary.

Luiten carded four birdies, an eagle and just one bogey in his 65, while McLeary joined the Dutchman on five under with a birdie on the 16th just before play was suspended for the day. Play in the first round will resume at 8am on Friday.

“It is always nice to shoot a 65,” said Luiten, who had downplayed his chances of a repeat victory on Wednesday. “I played well and didn’t make any mistakes. That’s the key on this course, keep the ball in play and take your chances. For me it was a good solid round and I hit some nice spots.

“Sometimes you can be conservative and take irons off the tee but if you feel good with the driver you have to hit it and make a tough hole into a birdie hole. It all depends how the winds are but I was hitting my drive well and I tried to take advantage of that.”

Italy’s Andrea Pavan and France’s Gary Stal were alongside Molinari on four under, with Ryder Cup player Thomas Bjorn and vice-captain Miguel Angel Jimenez off the pace on one over.

In the clubhouse Irish players, Shane Lowry and Pádraig Harrington, are best place on level par - one ahead of Damien McGrane. 

Darren Clarke is three over after a 73.

Simon Thornton was one over after 14 holes, one ahead of David Higgins, who had played 12.

Michael Hoey was one over through 14.

Gareth Maybin and Kevin Phelan were two over through 16 and nine respectively, and Peter Lawrie was three over through 12.

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Rory Defends Tiger and Lefty Comments

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Rory McIlroy has defended his comments about Tiger Woods andPhil Mickelson being in “the last few holes of their careers”.

McIlroy first addressed the issue during his pre-tournament press conference at theTour Championship in Atlanta, which will not feature either Woods or Mickelson for the first time since 1992.

The 25-year-old was asked if that represented a changing of the guard in golf and said: “Not really. I mean, Phil has played well in parts this year. He came really close to winning the PGA (finishing second behind McIlroy). I feel like he’s gotten a little better as the year has went on.

“But it’s a lot of golf for him to play in such a short space of time. So you could see he was getting a little tired the last couple of weeks. And, I mean, Tiger’s not here just because he’s been injured or he is injured. He hasn’t had the opportunity to play.

“But I think if he gets back and when he gets back to full fitness, you’ll see him back here again. So I’m not sure... they’re just getting older. Phil’s 43 or whatever (actually 44) and Tiger’s nearly 40 (Woods turns 39 in December).

“So they’re getting into the sort of last few holes of their career. And that’s what happens. You get injured. Phil has to deal with an arthritic condition as well. So it obviously just gets harder as you get older. I’ll be able to tell you in 20 years how it feels.”

Despite simply stating the facts, McIlroy’s comments inevitably generated comments on social media and the four-time major winner later wrote on his Twitter account: “Got a question today about Tiger and Phil... Gave an honest answer, was very complimentary about the two best golfers of this generation.

“Golfers on average have a 20-25 year career, both into the back 9 of their careers... Don’t think there’s anything wrong with saying that.”

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McIlroy Wins Third European Award

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Rory McIlroy has won the Race to Dubai European Tour Golfer of the Month award for the third time this year following his August triumph at the US PGA Championship.

The 25-year-old Northern Irishman clinched the fourth major championship of his career at Valhalla, where he won by one shot from Phil Mickelson.

It followed his Open Championship victory in July, and his BMW PGA Championship win in May, both of which were followed by McIlroy being handed the monthly European Tour award recognition.

World number one McIlroy earns an alms dish and jeroboam of champagne for winning his third such award in the last four months, a run which has been achieved just twice before, by Henrik Stenson last year and by Ian Woosnam in 1987.

McIlroy said: "It's always an honour to win the Golfer of the Month award. The award is important to me, and to have won it three times this year shows I'm having a really special season.

"But hopefully I'm not done yet - there's still plenty of golf to be played, so it'd be great to add a fourth before the season is over."

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