Rory: "On my day I’m the best player in the world"; Lowry's solid start
Rory McIlroy © USGA/JD Cuban
Rory McIlroy believes he can show the world he's the game's best player by playing with more feel in 2020.
After winning four times last year, including the Players Championship at Sawgrass, the world No 2 has avoided watching his swing on camera this close season so he can avoid mechanical thoughts.
“I believe on my day I’m the best player in the world and I think I can do that for a long time,” the Holywood star told PGATour.com. “For the foreseeable future, I feel like I can be the best player in the world, and I want to make the most of that."
On his feel oriented off-season, he told reporters at TPC Sawgrass: “Previously... I’ve tried to be too perfect, I’ve tried to do stuff with my swing. Now, in the New Year, for the last nearly week I haven’t seen my swing on camera once… and I’m almost hesitant to see it because I’m hitting it good and I’m feeling good.
“Everyone thinks that I’m a feel player, but there’s a lot of technical stuff that can get in there, too. I really want to play with as much feel as possible.”
McIlroy will reappear alongside Tiger Woods in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines from January 23-26 but Shane Lowry won’t make his PGA Tour bow until the WGC Mexico Championship from February 20-23.
The Offalyman (32) was pleased to negotiate swirling winds and open with a one-under 69 in that left him just four shots behind Australia's Wade Ormsby and Japan's Tomoharu Otsuki in the Asian Tour's Hong Kong Open.
"I probably should have shot a couple of shots better but anything in the 60s out there today is pretty good," said Lowry, who made three birdies and two bogeys and was outscored by Korean sensation Joohyung Kim (17) and the Asian Tour Order of Merit holder, Thailand's Jazz Janewattananond (24).
"It's a great golf course. We play so many courses around the world. I play on the European Tour and PGA Tour and we play golf courses that you just stand up and don't even think about and just hit a driver everywhere.
"But around here you really have to think about it off the tee. You know it's a golf course that if you're aggressive and you hit good shots you get rewarded but if you hit bad shots you start making bogeys and doubles very quickly.
"I'm happy with that as my first round of the year and I think I can build on that nicely over the next few days. "I'm a better player than I was [when I last played the Hong Kong Open] and I'm able to manage my way round a course better.
"[Jazz] is a lovely kid and I think the two lads combined were nearly younger than me!" After winning on the Asian Tour in India last year, Kim shot a three-under 67 to Janewattananond's 68 as Lowry's one-under round left him tied for 20th in an 11-man group that included American world No 16 Tony Finau.
On the European Tour, The Island's Gavin Moynihan made a positive start to the new season in the South African Open at Randpark in Johannesburg. While he lost full playing privileges last year, the Dubliner (25) made four-birdies in a three-under 68 on the Firethorn Course to share 47th place.
American Johannes Veerman blasted a nine-under 62 on the Bushwillow Course where Italy's Nino Bertasio and South Africa's signed for 63s to share second place.
Clandeboye's Jonathan Caldwell made four birdies in a one-under 70 at the Bushwillow to share 96th place while Portmarnock's Conor Purcell carded a level-par 71 on the Firethorn layout that left him joint 138th.
