McIlroy opens with smooth 67 at Turkish Airlines Open, but trails by six shots
Rory McIlroy opened up at the Turkish Airlines Open with a comfortable 5-under 67. Unfortunately for the world No. 3, that leaves him six shots behind Day 1 leader Jaco Van Zyl.
After a chip-in birdie at his second hole at The Montgomerie Maxx Royal, No. 11 on the course, McIlroy stagnated with seven consecutive pars. Once he made the turn, McIlroy made three birdies in a four-stretch to open the front side with a final birdie on his 16th hole to cement a solid opener.
McIlroy said he is starting to see progress in areas he’s focusing on in practice.
“I felt like a lot of the things I’ve been seeing in practice, I started to see on the course today,” McIlroy said. “I hit some quality shots. I still hit some shots that were a little loose, but I saw some putts go in the hole. No bogeys on the card is always good.”
However, McIlroy ultimately didn’t take advantage of lift, clean and place conditions on Thursday, primarily because he had never seen the course until a Wednesday practice round.
“I think we played the golf course a little more conservatively than the other guys did, but I was just trying to place it in the right parts of the fairway,” he said. “It’s all about hitting fairways here, because you can get the ball in your hand.”
The good news for McIlroy is that there are only three players in front of him on the leaderboard, including Van Zyl, who shot a European Tour career low to earn a three-stroke lead over Lee Westwood. Chris Wood shot 6-under 66.
“I played really nicely and honestly I thought four under par around here was a good score,” Van Zyl said. “I got it going early in the round and just kept it going. It was really good fun.”
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
