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Rory McIlroy insisted there were plenty of positives to take from his opening round at Bay Hill, despite squandering several chances to move higher up the leaderboard.
McIlroy hit all but one of the greens in regulation on his Bay Hill debut – equalling his career best on the PGA Tour – but was only able to convert that into three birdies during an opening round 70.
The Northern Irishman, yet to post a sub-70 round in America this year, had already missed five birdie putts from within 20-feet when he saw his approach to the par-five 16th pitch into a bank short of the green and roll back down into the water.
Although McIlroy’s fourth shot after a penalty drop found the green, his 35-foot par-save putt drifted left of the cup in his only blemish of the round.
Despite the disappointment with the putter leaving McIlroy four strokes off the lead, the four-time major winner was left encouraged by his opening round.
Golf's world No 1 Rory McIlroy insists he feels okay and isn't worried about a below average round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Speaking to Sky Sports 4, McIlroy said: "I feel okay. I saw a lot of positives out there and was just trying to stay as patient as possible.
“I’m disappointed to play the par-fives in even par for the day, especially around here. If you can play the par-fives well you’re going to do well, so hopefully I can improve on that over the week.”
“The greens are not quite as good as they could be and if it had been a better putting day it could have been a lot lower, but I feel a lot better about my game and it was nice to finish with a birdie."
This week’s event is McIlroy’s last before attempting to complete a career grand slam with Masters victory at Augusta next month.
While McIlroy has struggled, in recent displays at Palm Beach and Doral, to replicate the form that saw him storm to victory at the Desert Swing finale in Dubai, he is determined to get back to challenging at the top of leaderboards.
"I want to feel that feeling of being in contention,” McIlroy added. “The win in Dubai feels like a long time ago. It will be nice to get myself into the hunt going into the weekend."
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