Rory McIlroy, the Masters champion and world number two, playing for the first time since the US PGA last month, experienced a lowkey return to tournament play in the RBC Canada Open with a bogey-bogey finish to his first round 71, one-over-par, that left him trailing clubhouse leaders Taylor Pendrith and Alex Smalley by six strokes.
With a new TaylorMade Qi35 driver in his bag, replacing the Qi10 model which failed a characteristic time (CT) test at the PGA, McIlroy struggled to find his rhythm in cool conditions at the TPC Toronto Osprey Valley course, where placing on the fairways was in operation due to heavy rain in recent days.
Aiming to fine-tune his game ahead of next week’s US Open at Oakmont, where driving accuracy will be a key factor for potential winners on a course which traditionally plays as one of the toughest in the Majors, McIlroy’s 71 featured four bogeys and three birdies.
Having started his round on the 10th, those three birdies came in a sequence from the par-5 18th and also included the par-5 first (both putts effective tap-ins, from just 12 inches) and par-4 second, where he sank an 11-footer, but his good work was undone by a poor finish. A drive into the right rough on the eighth led to a bogey and a tee shot into a fairway bunker on the ninth, his closing hole, led to another dropped shot, which left McIlroy fighting the cut mark ahead of his second round.
“I actually felt like I played okay. It was my first outing with a new driver, and I felt like that went pretty well. I hit some drives that I liked and that I liked to see, so that was encouraging. I hit some good iron shots, missed a couple of greens and didn’t get them up-and-down, especially those last couple holes.
“Overall, I’m actually pretty happy with how I played. Obviously need to go a little bit lower [in the second round] and over the weekend to have a chance. I’m still trying to work on some things, but yeah, I’m okay with where everything is,” said McIlroy.
On getting used to the new driver, McIlroy added: “It’s hard with the driver, like with the one I had been playing with previously, when I missed with it, I was a little bit left. Then my miss with this one is a little bit right. It’s just trying to figure that out and manage it a little bit.”
Former collegiate star Luke Clanton, playing in his first PGA Tour event as a professional, was grouped with McIlroy and Ludvig Aberg and managed to outscore McIlroy.
“Being paired with Rory is no joke. Watching him hit drivers and iron shots, it’s cool. I watched him growing up my whole life, so I guess you could say he’s like the Tiger Woods of my life, and it’s really cool,” said Clanton, who was three over on his card through seven holes but fought back to sign for a level-par 70.
Pendrith led the home challenge with a strong opening 65 but admitted to also having an eye ahead to next week’s US Open.
“Next week you’re going to have to hit fairways. The fairways are relatively wide here, I’d say. I know they’re narrower next week, but I feel really good with the driver and have been swinging it well for a while now. There’s a lot of drivers out here, so just getting some practice with that.”
