Rory McIlroy found himself today in a position that must have seemed vaguely familiar — he was in the lead.
During the opening round of the WGC-HSBC Champions, the Northern Ireland golfer looked more like a two-time Major champion than someone who has not won all year.
McIlroy rarely had any stress as he opened with a seven-under 65 to claim a two-shot lead in Shanghai.
It was a brilliant performance by McIlroy, who is 62nd on the European Tour’s Race to Dubai and needs to move into the top 60 this week to have a chance of qualifying for the season’s finale, the DP World Tour Championship next month.
“It felt good to be out there and in control of my golf ball,” said the world No6. “It’s only one round but it’s definitely the way I wanted and, obviously, needed to start.”
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, coming off a win last week in the BMW Masters, and Jamie Donaldson each had 67. US Open champion Justin Rose was among those on 68.
Open champion Phil Mickelson had a chance to join McIlroy in the lead until it all went wrong. One shot behind with two to play, the American hit two wedges into the water fronting the par-five eighth green and took a quadruple-bogey nine. He hit another shot into the water on the ninth, and followed that with a brave shot to two feet to escape with only a bogey and close on 71.
But the day ultimately was about McIlroy, who started the season at No1 in the world and fell into a slump that has lasted longer than usual.
This is the first time McIlroy has held the outright lead after any round this year. He was part of a seven-way tie for top spot at the Wells Fargo Championship in May while his only better score in 2013 was a 64 at the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston.
“I’ve tried to stay patient and I know that if I am working on the right things, then things will start to fall into place sooner or later,” he said. “It’s obviously frustrating when you’ve had a couple of seasons where you have had success and not being able to emulate that.
“I wouldn’t say that I was restless in terms of trying to get a win this season, because I think that the best way to approach it is to stay patient and not to force the issue too much.”
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Luke Donald, 61st in the Race to Dubai, carded a 70 to sit in a tie for 15th. Neither Donald nor McIlroy is scheduled to play in Turkey next week, the final event before Dubai, and it is thought they will need to finish in the top 30 in Shanghai to compete in the season’s climax.
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