Rory McIlroy felt “agitated” by being put on the clock during the first round of the Amgen Irish Open on the Palmer North course at The K Club, where he dropped two shots in his closing three holes in opening with a one-under-par 71.
The Masters champion and world number two is known as one of the fastest players on the circuit but claimed to feeling “a little bit rushed” in preparing to play shots after DP World Tour officials twice put his group on the clock.
McIlroy – playing in a three-ball with Thriston Lawrence and Kristoffer Reitan – put forward the case that his group should have been given some leeway given the size of the galleries following along with the ancillary goings on with extra television camera crews and such like.
“And it’s hard because you feel a bit rushed, you’re playing some tough holes and we obviously, our group, has to deal with a lot more than any other group on the course,” he told reporters after the round.
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“It’s understandable that we lose time and I feel like any time I either come back to Europe or I play in some of these like [number] one- two- three- in the world-type groups, we’re always put on the clock for that reason.
“I got a little frustrated the last few holes because I feel like it always happens and I don’t think they use sort of common sense in terms of, well, of course we’re going to lose ground because we’re going to have to wait on crowds and wait on the two camera crews that are out there.
“And, you know, there’s just a lot more going on with our group than any of the other groups on the course, and sometimes I feel like they have to give us a little bit of leeway and use a bit of common sense,” said McIlroy who started on the 10th and was three-under-par on his scorecard through 15 holes before suffering back-to-back bogeys on the seventh and eighth for a frustrating finish.
As McIlroy put it: “I think if I had a par the last three holes, I would have felt pretty good about the round, but letting two shots go there in the last three holes was a bit disappointing. But certainly encouraged by how I played and some of the shots that I saw out there.”
Shane Lowry was in some ways the opposite to McIlroy, struggling early on to be one-over through eight holes before adding four birdies to sign for an opening three-under-par 69.
“I felt like even though I was one-over through eight, I was playing nicely. I was hitting the ball well and giving myself some chances. I just had to stay patient and that’s what I did. I gave myself a few chances coming in and managed to convert a few as well.
“It’s very important to get off to a good start in tournaments. You could see early on, I was one over and there were guys going out four or five under after 9 holes. I’m happy how I handled that. Handled not putting too much pressure on myself to get a score back. I feel like I just went about my business and put a really nice round together,” said Lowry, playing with a bounce in his step after getting a Ryder Cup pick from Luke Donald earlier in the week.
On a day which mixed sunshine with heavy downpours, Spain’s Nacho Elvira – a two-time winner on the DP World Tour in his career – shot an opening round of six-under-par 66 to assume the clubhouse lead.
