Aware that the upcoming US Open at Oakmont will feature some of the speediest greens in golf, Rory McIlroy has decided to switch back to a conventional right hand below left grip despite winning the recent Irish Open at The K Club with a low left hand style.
McIlroy was back in action at the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio on Thursday, carding a one-under 71 that left him well well adrift of early clubhouse leader Dustin Johnson, who opened with an eight-under 64.
The world No 3 played well from the tee and sunk a number of good putts but some poor approach shots saw him mix six birdies with five bogeys, his day finishing on an up note with back-to-back birdies to close.
McIlroy then gave an insight into his decision to switch back to his previous grip and outlined how his putting certainly wasn’t up to scratch in claiming an inaugural Irish Open success.
“Conventional is what I’ve done all my career,” said McIlroy. “ I won the Irish Open a couple of weeks ago with 127 putts for the week so I didn’t putt particularly well. I think I had 32 putts the first three days and 31 putts on Sunday so it was my ball striking that won me that tournament.
“I knew I needed to make a change and I felt like my pace was not really good with left low. Especially going into this week obviously, the greens are fast, but then going into Oakmount, the greens are so fast there, you have to have so much feel and touch and I felt that going back to conventional is going to give me the best chance here and obviously there.”
A fairway bunker cost McIlroy an opening bogey after starting on the 10th hole, but a stunning 5-wood to the par-5 11th almost saw him hole a delicate, breaking downhill putt for an eagle three.
The signs that he was rolling the ball well continued on the par-3 12th when he rolled home a birdie putt from 18 feet.
A double-bogey after finding sand on the par-3 16th saw him turn in one-over 37 and he traded off two birdies against two bogeys before a strong finish with good putts securing birdies on the eighth and ninth.
“I knew I just needed to try and salvage something out of the round because I felt I was playing well enough to,” added McIlroy.
“At the end of the day I made six birdies out there but I had five dropped shots. I felt like I hit it well enough off the tee to give myself opportunities to get it close to the pins and for most of the time I did that. But I just hit a few loose shots and that’s what cost me today. Hopefully I’ve got all of them out of my system and I can go now over the next three days and play the golf I know that I can play.”
Johnson carded 10 birdies and two bogeys in his 64 to take a two-shot early clubhouse lead from fellow American Hudson Swafford who went out in seven-under 29 before coming home in one-over 37.
Playing alongside McIlroy, Jordan Spieth carded five birdies and three bogeys in a two-under 70.
European Tour: Michael Hoey looks set to put a run of 11 missed cuts behind him after opening with a three-under 69 at the Nordea Masters in Stockholm.
That left the Ballymoney golfer two shots off the pace set by six golfers at Bro Hoff Slott Golf Club.
Hoey last made a cut on the European Tour back in January in Abu Dhabi and has amassed just €8,125 from 13 events this season.
Lee Westwood made an excellent start to his bid for an historic fourth victory in the event.
The English golfer carded six birdies and two bogeys in an opening 68 to lie a shot off the lead shared by fellow Englishman Andrew Johnston, Scottish pair Scott Henry and Marc Warren, Germany's Florian Fritsch and the French duo of Clement Berardo and Sebastien Gros.
Paul Dunne bounced back from a bogey-bogey start to post a two-under 70 while Peter Lawrie is a shot further back after carding two birdies and a bogey in a 71.
