PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — The issues started Thursday on his first hole of the day.
Rory McIlroy said he had not been comfortable with an iron in his hand for a few weeks and it showed on his second shot. What should have been an easy approach into the green found the left side bunker.
McIlroy got up and down for the birdie on No. 10, now a par 5, but he was fighting those irons all day.
Still, he shot a 67 on the first day of the 2024 Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches, calling it a solid start.
“Sixty-seven around here is always a decent score,” he said.
Better than decent, most days. But equaling his fifth lowest round ever at Cognizant wasn’t totally satisfying. McIlroy admitted his round “probably could have been a couple of shots better,” had he ironed out that iron play and had a few more putts drop. The conditions, at least early, were ripe for red numbers.
“It was so benign today,” he said. “You’re not going to get this course much easier.”
McIlroy was in the morning wave, which always is the preference on this challenging course that becomes even more daunting when afternoon winds blow. That will change Friday with an afternoon tee time.
That early tee time also afforded him plenty of time to visit the range after his round and work on those irons.
There, McIlroy found a spot where he visualized hitting to left pins. The issue, he said, has been those pins on the left side of the green. And after missing left a few times, he overcorrected and missed right.
Fans line up to catch a glimpse of Rory McIlroy on the ninth hole during the first round of the 2024 Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches at PGA National Resort. (Photo: Jeff Romance/Palm Beach Post)
“It’s something that I’ve been struggling with for the last few weeks and it’s hard,” he said. “It’s hard to replicate on the range the visuals that you’re getting on the course and it’s more a visual thing.
“When I see a pin on the left side of the green, I’m just a bit more uneasy of what shot to play and how I’m trying to swing it.”
20 months inside the top 10
Uneasy is not a typical feeling for a golfer who has spent the last 20 months inside the top 10 in the world – currently No. 2 – and has 24 career PGA Tour titles, including four majors.
But McIlroy is two months shy of his 35th birthday, and although golf is a sport kind to the aging as long as they are healthy (see: Eldrick “Tiger” Woods), many who have been at the very top…
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