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McIlroy opens with 63 at the Memorial

Published

12 years ago

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Rory McIlroy is picking up right where he left off following a final-round 66 at the European Tour’s BMW PGA Championship with a blistering 63 at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide Insurance. He is now an impressive 15-under-par in his last 36 holes.

“I felt very comfortable out there again on the golf course,” McIlroy said. “I got off to a solid start, birdieing  two of the first four holes, then picked up another couple later on in the front nine and turned in 4?under, which is a solid start without doing anything really special.”

Rory might not think or feel like he’s doing anything special, but a 9-under-par 63, which included a double-bogey 6 on the par-4 14th, is nothing to sneeze at. His 3-stroke lead is the largest held at the Memorial Tournament since 2009, when Luke Donald led by three over four others.

Despite his play, fears of injury were sparked when McIlroy seemed to tweak his knee midway through the round.

“I felt like I tweaked it on my second shot on the 7th,” McIlroy said. “I tweaked my back on Friday evening at Wentworth and played through that last weekend and I tweaked my knee here this week.  But I’ll be okay. Some treatment and I should be fine for the morning.”

McIlroy, who hasn’t won on the PGA Tour since back-to-back victories at the 2012 Deutsche Bank Championship and BMW Championship in the FedExCup Playoffs, will have some history working against him this week.

Dating back to the Memorial Tournament’s inaugural year of 1976, there have only been two first-round leaders/co-leaders who have managed to convert for the win; Ernie Els in 2004 and Justin Rose in 2010. Additionally, only seven International players have been able to win at Muirfield Village in 38 years.

But neither heartbreak nor injury seem capable of subduing McIlroy’s confidence at the moment.

“I was expecting this to happen,  I’ve been playing well,” McIlroy said. “I’ve been posting good numbers, good rounds, and I knew my game was close … I’ve been trending in the right direction, and it’s starting to all come together.”

If everything goes according to plan, and McIlroy is able to hold on to the first spot atop the leaderboard come Sunday afternoon, it will most likely see him head into the U.S. Open at Pinehurst as the odds-on favorite, but most of all, it will see McIlroy lay claim to Jack’s tournament — a special one indeed.

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Frank Mastroianni hails from the Great White North and is a member of the Golf Journalists Association of Canada. In addition to his passion for golf course architecture, equipment, and all the professional Tour's, he is never one to shy away from stating his opinions or letting others touch his golf clubs — it's a superstition he is trying to overcome. A 15-year veteran of the golf industry, in addition to golf, Frank can be found playing guitar or piano, taking photos and shooting video, but most of all...just Being Frank.

8 Comments

8 Comments

  1. j.a.

    May 30, 2014 at 4:50 pm

    63 on 1st round and 78 on the second. Did he receive a phone call in between?

    Reply Report comment

  2. Pingback: McIlroy opens with 63 at the Memorial - I'd Rather Be Golfing

  3. Rich

    May 30, 2014 at 5:47 am

    Geez the ex must be feeling good. Rory’s so devastated by the break up that he’s back to his old self on the golf course. Won’t be long before he’s back at the top.

    Reply Report comment

  4. MHendon

    May 30, 2014 at 12:32 am

    It’s nice to see Rory playing good again. Now maybe all these Nike haters will shut up. Point is IT’S NOT THE EQUIPMENT PEOPLE, IT’S THE PLAYER! Rory’s a streaky player and when he’s hot he’s as good as anyone on tour and when he’s not he’s just average. For whatever reason a lot of amateurs particularly young one’s have strong brand loyalties but yet all the major OEM’s make equally good equipment. I’ll show some brand loyalty when they start paying me! Until then I’m playing what fits my eye and performs the way I want it to.

    Reply Report comment

    • Mike

      May 30, 2014 at 4:37 am

      Actually the nike equipment is pretty good, I find the VR blades Rory plays a much better balanced club than the titliest MB he would have been playing..

      Reply Report comment

      • MHendon

        May 30, 2014 at 10:59 am

        I’m sure they are good but so are the Titleist MB’s, and the old Mizuno MP33’s I use, and the new taylormade tour preferreds. It’s all good equipment but my point was everyone was trying to blame Rory’s bad play last year on the equipment, it’s not the equipment and now he’s back to playing like he was when Titleist was on his bag.

        Reply Report comment

        • Mike

          May 30, 2014 at 4:36 pm

          I was agreeing with you. These guys would still beat the average guy with clubs from the 60s..

          Reply Report comment

  5. Hkerr

    May 29, 2014 at 10:52 pm

    They used Rory’s picture from last year.

    Reply Report comment

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