4-time main winner Rory McIlroy matched a course report with 10 birdies to share the early lead with reigning Olympic champion Xander Schauffele and Wyndham Clark whereas Australian Jason Day is lurking shut behind after Thursday’s opening spherical of The Gamers Championship.
Schauffele fired a bogey-free, seven-under par 65 and was stage with McIlroy atop the US PGA Tour leaderboard after 18 holes at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Seashore, Florida.
The 30-year-old American, who hasn’t received for the reason that 2022 Scottish Open, discovered 9 of 14 fairways in his first bogey-free spherical of 15 on the Gamers.
“The bogeys, or the scares of a bogey, come while you miss the fairways,” Schauffele mentioned. “The tough is fairly thick. Shockingly thick in some circumstances. You’ve simply bought to maintain it on the quick grass.”
LIVE LEADERBOARD: McIlroy, Schauffele tied for early lead with Aussie within the hunt
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World quantity two McIlroy, the 2019 Gamers winner, stumbled to a 76 in his remaining spherical final week at Bay Hill however bounced again after engaged on his irons.
“Total I’m actually proud of how the day went,” McIlroy mentioned.
“A lot improved from Sunday at Bay Hill. Put a number of work in over the past three days. Really feel like I noticed a number of progress on the market.”
“Iron play was a lot improved and that’s one thing I’ve labored so much on. I hit balls for 5 hours on Monday to attempt to determine all of it out and I really feel like I bought someplace. It was a continuation of the opposite issues I had been doing effectively, putted effectively the final three rounds final week and that fed into right this moment. Simply actually comfortable to see some iron photographs go shut once more.”
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Elsewhere, Clark might have taken the outright lead with a birdie on the final gap however couldn’t get his radar working and as a substitute needed to accept par to complete on 65 alongside McIlroy and Schauffele.
“I used to be actually affected person on the market. I don’t really feel like I did something spectacular, I simply type of potted it round and made putts once I wanted to,” Clark later advised Sky Sports activities Golf.
“I actually had a stress-free, ho-hum spherical. I didn’t make too many bogeys and didn’t have too many putts to make for par, so it was a reasonably simple spherical.”
Day, in the meantime, had a five-birdie, no-bogey 67 to sit down simply two behind McIlroy and Schauffele within the hunt for the occasion’s $US25 million ($A38 million) purse.
It was a powerful bounce again effort for Day after final week’s T36 end on the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
“It’s nice,” Day mentioned.
“A little bit of a dramatic distinction between my hitting from final week to this week. Clearly it’s solely the primary day, however felt like I did a number of good high quality work with [coach] Chris [Como] at first of the week.
“Drove it good. I believe that’s in all probability probably the most essential issues is to drive it effectively right here. Although it’s not like overly lengthy, getting it within the fairway is essential.It was good to have the ability to capitalise on the par-5s right this moment, preserve the 5s off the scorecard and birdie these.”
After all, Day is a earlier winner of The Gamers Championship having triumphed in 2016, though the Australian doesn’t see a bonus in his earlier success.
“I’d prefer to say sure, however sadly no,” Day mentioned.
“It’s a type of golf programs the place beforehand, earlier than I received the occasion, I didn’t have a number of nice outcomes.
“Then I received the occasion, and since then I’ve had some first rate finishes.
“Granted, we went from Could to March, in order that was a little bit of a change, too. The type of the golf course we used to play in Could was completely completely different in comparison with now. I hit much more drivers off the tees.
“It’s tremendous essential to hit fairways now, whereas earlier than you’d miss a fairway you’d be like, it’s not too dangerous, I can run one thing up, and it’s no drawback.
“Issues play just a little bit softer now they usually’re very thick out of the tough. So yeah, the type of sport is completely different.”
Memorable moments on the Island Inexperienced | 01:57
In the meantime, among the different ordinary names are in and across the prime of the leaderboard with Matt Fitzpatrick and Scottie Scheffler in rivalry after the opening spherical.
Fitzpatrick had an opportunity to birdie to hitch McIlroy and Schauffele for the joint lead however got here up quick and settled for a par to complete with a first-round rating of 66 which was good for T4.
Scheffler, in the meantime, birdied his final gap of the day for 67 and share of sixth.
Elsewhere New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, who had the primary back-to-back eagles in Gamers historical past after an eagle on the par-5 sixteenth, dropping his second shot inches from the opening, and an ace on the famed par-3 seventeenth island gap on his technique to taking pictures 69.
“I imply, it’s such an iconic gap, and it’s an intimidating shot. I don’t care who you might be. You rise up there, a lot of the crowd in all probability both needs you to make a 1 or hit it within the water, so I’m glad to be on the appropriate aspect of it in that respect,” Fox later mentioned.
“Once we bought to the tee, it was type of a superb quantity for me. It was a pleasant hole wedge and you realize you’ve bought just a little little bit of a backstop there, and I used to be fairly happy to lookup and see it taking place the flag, and clearly just a little little bit of luck for it to return down the slope and return in, however I’m definitely not complaining.”
Sawgrass supplied frustration as effectively, with Canada’s Adam Hadwin knocking his second shot at 18 into the water after which hurling his membership into the water seconds later. He closed with a bogey to shoot 75.
It marked the primary time in Hawdin’s profession that he had hit a golf ball within the water on the seventeenth gap at TPC Sawgrass in the course of the Gamers Championship.
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One other Canadian, Nick Taylor was third within the clubhouse on 66. Sixth-ranked Schauffele started on the again 9 and birdied the par-5 eleventh after reaching the inexperienced in two then added one other birdie on a 13-foot putt on the twelfth.
On the 18th, Schauffele dropped his strategy inside three ft from the opening to arrange a birdie that started a run of 4 in a row, the spotlight amongst them a 25-foot birdie putt on the par-3 third.
Schauffele added a remaining birdie after dropping his strategy on the fifth simply inside three ft.
McIlroy, who additionally started on the tenth, birdied his first three holes — the tenth on a putt from simply inside six ft, the par-5 eleventh on a tap-in after reaching the inexperienced in two and the twelfth after touchdown his strategy inside 5 ft of the opening.
“That second shot on 10 and hitting it in shut proved I might do what I used to be doing in observe underneath the warmth of competitors,” McIlroy mentioned.
“It was a pleasant technique to begin.”
He birdied the 14th from simply inside 15 ft, the par-5 sixteenth after pitching his third shot inches from the opening and the par-3 seventeenth island gap from simply past six ft.
McIlroy discovered water off the tee on the 18th gap and made bogey however answered with a birdie on the par-5 second after reaching the inexperienced in two.
McIlroy sank birdie putts from 10 ft on the fourth and 15 ft on the sixth however splashed his tee shot once more on the seventh on his technique to a double bogey that tumbled him from the lead.
The Northern Eire star answered with a 17-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th, turning into the fifth golfer to make 10 birdies in a single Gamers spherical.
LEADERBOARD
T1: Xavier Schauffele -7
T1: Rory McIlroy -7
T1: Wyndham Clark -7
T4: Nick Taylor -6
T4: Matt Fitzpatrick -6
T6: Tom Hoge -5
T6: Jason Day -5
T6: Ludvig Åberg -5
T6: Scottie Scheffler -5
T6: Tyler Duncan -5
T6: Maverick McNealy -5
T6: Jimmy Stanger -5
AUSIES IN ACTION
T6: Jason Day -5
T38: Adam Scott -2
T90: Min Woo Lee +1
T90: Aaron Baddeley +1
T141: Cam Davis +7
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