McIlroy hoping slow and steady wins the race after long Doonbeg day

The wind made it a testing Thursday as the Irish Open got going in Clare. 

UPHILL BATTLE: Rory McIlroy walks to the 13th green. Pic: INPHO/Ben Brady

Rory McIlroy reckons he and his dad Gerry can play a full round at Seminole Golf Club back in Florida in roughly two-and-a-half hours if they get a clear run of the course.

His round with Robert MacIntyre and Brooks Koepka in Co Clare on Thursday took an exhausting six hours and four minutes.

Likely the longest he has ever played, he laughed. Well, it was either that or cry.

Everyone had the same sort of story to tell after the opening round of this Amgen Irish Open at Trump International Golf Links and Hotel. Twenty-one players were still out on the course when the curtain came down two minutes shy of 8pm, Ireland’s Liam Nolan among them.

He’ll have just the 23 holes to play on day two.

McIlroy ended the day with a one-under par 69 that leaves him only four shots shy of overnight leader Joaquin Niemann of Chile. He sits in a tie for 17th and in the slipstream of Shane Lowry and Tom McKibbin who finished two shots and one shot in front of him.

It was a tidy enough round for the Holywood man. The only dropped shots came as a pair, his failure to extricate himself first time from a fairway bunker on the 13th feeding in to a double bogey. All told, a very acceptable job of it given the testing day that was in it.

“There was a couple of things that were tough today,” said the defending champion. “Obviously the wind and the strength of the wind was one thing, and then the pace of play. This course isn't conducive to letting you get in a flow. Especially the first two days with so many people in the field, there's a lot of stopping and starting.

“Look, it's hard when you're playing a round of golf and it takes six hours, it's hard to get into the rhythm of things. But felt like I did a good job. After making the double bogey on 13 I was just trying to get those two shots back by the end of the day. Didn't quite do that, but I think finishing under par for the day was a reasonable effort.” 

The wind wasn’t just an annoyance, it was a central, Shakespearian character in the marathon that was every man’s round on a course where bottlenecks developed on at least four holes due to the conditions that allowed players shoot for greens off the tee on par fours and shrink par fives.

McIlroy actually overshot the putting surface with his tee shot on the par-four 13th.

“You're hitting on average, into the wind, three to four clubs more than you usually would. I had 138 yards to the last green there and hit a full seven iron. I usually hit my seven iron in warm, dry conditions about 190 yards. So it just shows you, it was a 50-yard wind at least.” 

Gusts of 55kph were recorded at one point of the day and it became very apparent very early that the entire field of 138 players wouldn’t reach the 19th before the daylight was drained completely from the day. So it proved.

The sight of players sighing at putts turned askew from the hole thanks, in no small part, to those capricious elements became commonplace. Jon Rahm actually called for an official when his ball was buffeted for what he felt like an eternity on the 5th green.

Play on, said Miguel Viador, the DP Tour’s top man on the course. It was grim and beat it stuff.

There were times too when it resembled pure comedy. Frederic Lacrioix’s caddie had to run after the Frenchman’s ball after it had (luckily) been marked and blown off the putting surface, only to lose his hat to a particularly strong gust on the way back.

Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton would have approved.

Only 34 of the 138-strong field sat under-par as night fell. Nicolai von Dellingshausen shot an 80 and so brought up the rear at ten-over. His compatriot Marcel Schneider had already retired after 14 holes, by which point he was six-over par.

There were much bigger names hanging on to the lower rungs and in danger of falling off before the weekend. Five-time major winner Brooks Koepka shot a five-over 75. Tyrrell Hatton signed for a 78 to sit three shots further back.

More than a few threatened Niemann’s five-under mark at the top end, but no-one got closer than one shot back with McKibbin, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Andy Sullivan, Patrick Reed and Francesco Molinari all making it that high before the chasing pack settled in at three-under.

As for the other Irish in the field, Cormac Sharvin and Seamus Power both ended with three-over 73s. Mark Power was one shot further back while Thomas Higgins was at the same +4 mark after 17.

The good news is that conditions for round two aren’t expected to make anyone quote King Lear, but this course has shown that it can make life difficult and unpredictable for some of the best professional players in the game.

Only three more days and the obscene Donald Trump circus to go.