PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — World No. 1 Rory McIlroy continued to scuffle with his swing.
World No. 2 Tiger Woods tussled with his putter.
Both turned in uneventful rounds of even-par 70 Thursday in the first round of the Honda Classic at PGA National, with both coming in with two birdies and two bogeys. And after each’s round, the two said their best efforts are just around the corner.
LEADERBOARD: Honda Classic[1]
Camilo Villegas shot a 6-under 64 to take the clubhouse lead, one shot better than Rickie Fowler, Branden Grace, Robert Streb and Graham DeLaet. Ten players, including Dustin Johnson, were another shot back at 4 under.
McIlroy has struggled since switching to Nike clubs but with just four competitive rounds in the past three months, he’s working more on finding his swing.
WORLD NO. 1: McIlroy ignores the critics[2]
“I guess it’s hard to commit to the shot that you need to play every time. So if you should play a fade and you’re not comfortable with it, it’s hard to do. So just a bit more work on the swing to try to get a bit more comfortable with that and I should be OK,” McIlroy said. “But I felt like I hit the ball OK today, not as good as I can, but it’s getting there.”
Woods got nowhere with his putter, needing 32 putts overall.
“I hit a lot of good shots but I didn’t make anything,” Woods said. “I hit just a ton of good putts that didn’t make the edge and just never really made anything until No. 7. But other than that, it was pretty much a boring day on the greens.
” … I hit the ball well today and on top of that, I hit good putts but unfortunately I didn’t get the feeling of this grain today. It was either snagging or I would blow through it top side. I just didn’t quite have it just right. I hit so many putts right around the edge that just were not going in. Just stick with what I’m doing because it’s not very far off.”
His putter did save him on his second nine. Woods, who started on the 10th, pulled his tee shot on the par-4 6th. The ball ended up in a water hazard and Woods had to stand in the hazard to hit his second shot. Undeterred, he advanced the ball 76 yards and then up-and-down from 81 yards by making an 8-footer for par. On the next, Woods knocked his tee shot on the 221-yard, par-3 to 20 feet, from where he buried the putt for his second birdie.
Woods took off his shoes and socks and put on his rain pants to hit the shot.
“I have, unfortunately,” Woods said about hitting the ball out of the water. “This time, it was only half-submerged, so I could play some kind of explosion shot and get it back in the fairway. I got in there and I wasn’t trying to advance it very far, just make sure I got it back in the fairway and give myself some kind of wedge shot in there, which I did, and I got it up-and-down.
” … I was 1 over at the time, and if that ball is not playable from where it’s at, where I crossed was pretty far back and I would have had to have dropped. I couldn’t even get an angle in the first cut and had to drop in the primary and had to lay up and didn’t get that up-and-down. Looking at a six, 3?over, and all of a sudden I flip it, make par there and birdie the next.”
