Rory McIlroy off to a quick start in Honda Open – Golf News
Rory McIlroy is looking forward to a victory in the Honda Classic to take on Luke Donald at the top of the Official World Golf Rankings.
He started off in an impressive style as he carded a four-under par 66 in the opening round at the PGA National
Champion Course, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, on Thursday, March 1, 2012.
McIlroy started on the back nine, at a course to that he states as his second home, and managed three birdies to go three-under.
However, a bogey on the par-four eighth offset one of his birdies, from among the two that he scored on the front nine to finish two strokes behind the leader, Davis Love III.
Overall, McIlroy looked calm and confident while making each and every putt and said that he felt great improvements in his game. He is ready to take over his opponents in the upcoming rounds.
"That's been a huge improvement, especially inside 6 feet," the world number two said. "I definitely don't miss as many as I used to. I feel a lot more confident over those putts".
“I have always been pretty good from like 15 to 25 feet. I have always holed my fair share, but those putts that you should hole all the time are the only that I've definitely improved on. The more you see the ball go in from there, the more confidence you
get," he added.
McIlroy was then joined by seven other players at the second spot, Justin Rose, Ryan Palmer, Dicky Pride, Martin Flores, Kevin Stadler, Seung-Yul Noh and Harris English.
Tiger Woods, who had plenty of problems with his putting, again faltered and shot one-over par 71 to finish in an 18-way tie for the 68th
spot.
However, he looked satisfied with his performance and said that he was relatively better in his putts as compared to his performance in the second round of the Accenture Match Play Championship.
He lost to Nick Watney when he had a chance to force the game in to playoffs and missed an easy six-footer for a birdie on the 18th.
Meanwhile, the world number three, Lee Westwood also failed to impress his fans and tied for the 40th place after carding a level-par score.
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