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Starting on the tenth tee, McIlroy displayed no signs of a hangover from his play-off defeat in last week’s Honda Classic, flying out of the blocks with three birdies in his opening four holes over the Blue Monster at Trump National Doral, draining a 53 foot putt on the 13th hole.
He dropped a shot at the next after finding the bunker, but regained it immediately with an eight foot birdie putt on the 15th before back-to-back bogeys on the 17th and 18th holes just before storms halted played for more than two hours.
The former World Number One regrouped during the delay and resumed his round in the middle of the first fairway, duly birdieing it to move to two under par before lipping out with another birdie chance on the second hole from eight feet.
With conditions proving tough, McIlroy bogeyed the fourth hole to sit on one under par through 14 holes of his round. With five players currently setting the pace on three under par, including clubhouse leader Harris English, McIlroy was rightly pleased with his efforts on the opening day.
“I said I’d be happy with anything under par from this round and I’m still on course for that,” he said. “I’m happy with the way I played and I’d like to get something in the 60s.
“I played pretty good. It was tough out there though with the wind and the firm greens with the moisture on top. It was really skidding. So it was hard when we got back out to control the distance. You had to guess a little how much the ball would skip forward. I’ll get back out in the morning and play the last three and a half holes without as much wind and with better conditions.”
After finishing runner up twice already this season, the two-time Major Champion has plenty of cause for optimism over the next three days.
“I'm playing well and I'm comfortable with my game,” he said. “I wasn't going to let one bad day last week derail the good path that I'm on.
“I played well from the start again, and made four birdies quickly. Hopefully I will make a few more tomorrow.”
