Low-key return for McIlroy at Colonial
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland plays his shot from the ninth tee during a practice round prior to the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club on June 09, 2020 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
Rory McIlroy compiled an "uneventful" 68 to go into the second round of the Charles Schwab Challenge five strokes adrift of Justin Rose and Harold Varner III.
On a day when Graeme McDowell posted a one-under 69 and Shane Lowry a 71 on the return of PGA Tour action after a 90-day break at a soft and windless Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, McIlroy insisted that playing without crowds "didn't feel like it was much different at all."
"It was good; it felt good to be back," the world number one said after a round featuring three birdies and a solitary, three-putt bogey on the front nine followed by nine successive pars.
"I thought it was going to feel more different than it was. Like it's a little strange not having anyone around, but at the same time we are so concentrated on what we're doing and trying to shoot good scores and play good golf, so me personally, once I got into it, I didn't feel like it was much different at all."
As for his play— he birdied the par-five first, three-putted the sixth but then birdied the eighth and ninth— he admitted his distance control with his wedges was poor but blamed slow and bumpy greens for his failure to make putts late in the day (he's 76th for strokes gained putting).
Asked to describe his round, he said: "Uneventful. I made three birdies and one bogey. The one bogey on the 6th hole I three-putted from like 30 feet. It was one of those days. I put myself in position to shoot a low score, I just didn't capitalize on how I hit it off the tee.
Justin Rose of England plays his shot from the third tee during the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge on June 11, 2020 at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
"My distance control on my wedges was a little off, and then the putting right there got a little difficult at the end of the day. Greens were sort of slow, and they got pretty bumpy at the end. Hopefully some better greens in the morning and hopefully shoot a lower score."
Rose struggled with Honma equipment last year but is now a free agent, and after returning to his TaylorMade clubs, he made seven birdies in a mistake-free 63 before being joined in a share of the lead by Varner late in the day.
"Kept it pretty simple, I suppose,’ Rose said. “I spent a lot of years at TaylorMade, so I felt like I needed just to get a bit of a baseline on my game, and using the SIM driver, SIM 3-wood, got a little Cobra 5-wood in there, which has been a nice find," he said.
"It's amazing out of the rough, and obviously I can fade it up and draw it, so that's a nice little versatile club. And then P730s through the bag and then Vokey wedges, and then my Axis1 putter, which has been a staple for me the last couple of years."
Rose played alongside Dustin Johnson (who shot 71) and a bulked-up Bryson DeChambeau, who put on 20 lbs during the lockdown and now hits the ball prodigious distances, topping the distance charts in round one with tee shots of 353 (1st), 322 (2nd), 354 (11th), 333 (12th), 337 (14th) 322 (15th) and 317 (18th) yards.
“Yeah, well, I've upped about 20 pounds,” Dechambeau said. “It doesn't mean I'm going to hit it farther, but I've done a lot of speed training to attain these new ball speeds. When I was out here I was attaining ball speeds of 193, 195 on certain holes, and quite honestly I can't use it out here. There's only a couple holes I can use it, No. 11 and No. 1 and No. 2 really.”
He still impresssed playing partner Rose.
"Yeah, I saw a massive difference," Rose said of DeChambeau's physical transformation. "One, in his physique for sure. I mean, he's huge. I played with Dustin Johnson —I'm not small, but at 6'3" and 190 I kind of felt pretty small out on the golf course today.
Bryson Dechambeau looks like one of those Pokemon after they've evolved pic.twitter.com/D3YTGQv7lP
— LKD (@LukeKerrDineen) June 11, 2020
"I hit a good drive down 1. I think No. 1 today is probably the best measure. I hit a good tee shot. I'm probably like low 170s ball speed, 71, 72, 73 possibly, but when I hit it well, I've got good spin and good launch and I carry it 300, and I probably got it out there 320 down No. 1 today, and I was 40 behind Bryson.
"It's a pretty significant difference for sure. Like DJ was kind of in between me and Bryson really. Pretty unique -- yeah, it's definitely different. You can tell the practice swings are very intentional. He's looking for speed. He's obviously trained speed. But the other elements of his game still look in control. So it looks like he's definitely added a couple of weapons for sure."
Rose and Varner III, whose opinions on racial discrimination and social integration has been eagerly sought following the death of unarmed black man George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis last month.
"The reason I have a platform is because I'm really good at golf," said Varner, who was working it in the gym when the tour held a moment of silence to mark Floyd's death at 8:46 am, marking the 8 minutes and 46 seconds a police officer knelt on his neck during May's tragic event
"I just need to focus on that, and to be honest with you, being on the golf course, it helped me. It's my getaway, I guess."
FORT WORTH, TEXAS - JUNE 09: Jordan Spieth of the United States plays a shot during a practice round prior to the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club on June 09, 2020 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
Rose and Varner lead by just one stroke from Jhonattan Vegas, Abraham Ancer, Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas while the beefed-up DeChambeau shot a 65 to share seventh with Brian Harman, Gary Woodland, Daniel Berger, Adam Hadwin, 61-year-old Champions Tour regular Tom Lehman, Tyler Duncan, Xander Schauffele and Jordan Spieth, a former winner at Colonial in Spieth, who has fallen from world No 1 to 56th over the past four years, knows he will have to play well for the rest of the season if he's to retain his Ryder Cup place or win one of Steve Stricker's six wildcards.
"I mean, I certainly am on the outside looking in, so any kind of solid play through the end of this year I think would be - I could get myself into a position to get a pick," he said on the eve of the tournament. "I feel like I'm in control of my own destiny, which is great, but I'm on the outside looking in, which is a place that I haven't been for Ryder Cups in the past. You know, certainly, that's an added goal."
McDowell, who has slimmed down considerably over the three-month break, opened with 11 successive pars before mixing three birdies with two bogeys in his last eight holes for a 69.
As for the Open champion, Lowry hit 14 greens in regulation, but while he was 11th for proximity to the hole, he made just two putts over four feet in a 32-putt round.
One-over through three holes, he made a ten-footer for par at the fifth, but after making another ten-footer for birdie at the par-three eighth, he had no more luck and then three-putted the 16th from inside 12 feet for bogey and a one-over 71.
