Rory McIlroy was left frustrated with an opening one-under-par 71 in the first round of the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai that left him seven shots adrift of leader Rikard Karlberg.
One part of his game that fired was his driving as the world No 3 took the TaylorMade M2 driver and woods on the course for the first time in a competitive round.
McIlroy has been trying out the clubs following Nike’s announcement that they are getting out of the club and ball market, allowing players to switch equipment providers.
McIlroy was seventh in driving distance in the first round, his average of 294 yards still a distance behind Dustin Johnson, who averaged 312.5 yards. His accuracy in hitting nine of fairways was the best of the big hitters on the Sheshan International course.
Playing alongside Bubba Watson and Adam Scott, McIlroy admitted he was delighted with how he was driving the ball.
“I felt like I drove the ball really well. Look, I’ve been driving the ball well anyway, but yeah, it was nice to see the ball flying where it was going.”
Comparing himself to his playing partners, he added: “I would say I would have been level without them and maybe a little bit behind before, and I was hitting it by both of them, so (it) can only be a positive. Especially when conditions are like this and it’s so soft, it goes a long way in the air. Hopefully that can be to my benefit over the next few days.”
McIlroy is more than a million points behind Masters champion Danny Willett in his bid to win a third straight Race to Dubai title, with the English golfer enjoyinh a lead of more than 400,000 points over British Open champion Henrik Stenson, who carded an opening 69.
Willett battled back from a nightmare start to return a 74, three bogeys and a double bogey in the space of four holes taking him to the turn in 41 before birdies on the second, third and ninth repaired some of the damage.
McIlroy also started on the 10th and ended a run of six straight pars with a birdie on the 16th, although even that was something of a disappointment after driving the green on the short par four and missing from eight feet for an eagle.
And there was worse to come on the par-five 18th as the four-time Major winner pushed his approach into the water surrounding the green, the resulting bogey dropping him back to level par.
A frustrated McIlroy finally got back into red figures with just his second birdie of the day on the seventh and parred the last two holes to sign for an opening 71.
Asked about his first competitive round following his post Ryder Cup break, McIlroy said: “Yeah, like it was okay. I felt like with the way I hit it, I probably could have squeezed a couple more out of the round. I sort of was trying to stay as patient as I could. I had a good chance for eagle on 16 and missed, but made birdie.
“Hit it in the middle of the fairway on 18, looking to hit it in two and hit it in the water. So looking like you’re maybe going two under through nine and you’re back to even. Then you’re just trying to – basically I was trying to shoot something in the 60s after that. I was able to get one birdie on the front nine.
“I’ll go out there tomorrow and know that I feel like I’m playing well enough to shoot a score in the mid 60s and get myself back into it.”
On a dull and heavy day in China, Shane Lowry failed to get any momentum going as four bogeys cancelled out his two birdies in a two over par round of 74.
Karlberg had birdied his first four holes of the day and reached nine under par after 16, only to bogey the 18th after finding sand off the tee and thick rough with his recovery.
“Everything was so easy,” Karlberg said. “It was just one of those days, it was a walk in the park. I committed to a lot of shots, hit them perfect, just as I wanted and I stayed aggressive on my putting all the way around, which I feel was good.
“I hit great shots all day except the last hole and it was a great day. It felt amazing on every part of the game.”
American Ryder Cup star Rickie Fowler was a shot behind Karlberg after a flawless 65 and the group of Scotland’s Russell Knox, America’s Daniel Berger and japan’s Hideki Matsuyama are on six under.
