Early struggle for Irish hopefuls

THE Irish trio of Padraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell struggled to keep in touch with the top of the leader board in yesterday’s opening round of the Players Championship at Sawgrass, Jacksonville, Florida.

McIlroy, who electrified the golfing world with his remarkable closing round of 62 that earned him a four shot victory in the Quail Hollow Championship last Sunday and who celebrated his 21st birthday Tuesday, again played very solidly but the birdie blitz had dried up.

He did pick up a shot at the 11th, his second, but a string of pars followed until he ran up a bogey at 18 to drop back to level par. McIlroy went on to rim the hole on a number of occasions for birdie before hooking his tee shot wildly off the tee at the short 8th, his 17th, and did well to escape with a bogey. The youngster bunkered his drive on the last but played a great third shot to four feet at the last and sank the putt for par