McIlroy five back as Scheffler lurks in Houston

Rory McIlroy got off to a "pedestrian" and soggy start in his final event before the Masters as his putted failed to fire in the Texas Children's Houston Open at a rainy Memorial Park.

Far from firing on all cylinders, the world number two played a round that matched the weather and his outfit — grey and non-descript — as he carded a level par 70 in showery conditions to find himself five shots off the lead.

"A little pedestrian, I guess, is a good way to describe it," said McIlroy, who struggled occasionally with his iron play and lost shots to the field on the greens. "We had to deal with those conditions early on; it was rainy and not too pleasant to play in.

"I made a few par saves early on that I needed to, and then I had quite a few chances on the second nine there that I didn't convert.

"So it was sort of a tale of two halves. I felt like I was scrambling for the most part on the first nine, and then I feel like I left a couple out there on the last nine."

The world number two started at the 10th and had to make a 12-footer for par at the 11th and a seven-footer at the 12th after iron shots sailed left.

He then dropped a shot at the 14th, missing from eight feet for par after overshooting the green. But as the rain eased and the umbrellas came down, he created more chances but failed to make anything happen from mid-range with the putter.

"I drove it better once I got my gear on," he said. "I couldn't really find the middle of the clubface for the first few holes. But once it brightened up and once the conditions got a little better, I felt like I drove it pretty well."

He might have birdied the short par-four 17th after firing a short iron to five feet, but he misread the birdie putt there and missed again from 10 feet for birdie at the second before he finally two-putted for his birdie four at the long third.

He'd hand that shot straight back at the fourth after failing to hit the green with another short iron but made amends by almost chipping in for an eagle three at the eighth.

McIlroy has not had to tee off in driving rain very often in recent years but dealt with it well and was unfazed by his first-round score, bar his tally of 30 putts.

"It's been a while," he said. "Think we had a massive downpour one year at the Tour Championship in Atlanta. I remember teeing off there, but yeah, that was pretty heavy."

It's McIlroy's first visit to the venue, and he admitted that his lack of knowledge of the course had its advantages and disadvantages; he was happy to learn on the fly.

"It's a double-edged sword," he said. "It's always nice to come to places that you don't know, and having to learn a new golf course, I don't do it all that often anymore, so it's nice to be able to do it again.

"But then there are inbuilt advantages to going back to a course for, you know, a lot of years, and just knowing where to miss and where not to, especially on a course like this, where the green complexes are quite… You have to know them and know where the misses are.

"I think a little bit of experience around this course isn't a bad thing, and I'm just trying to learn as I go along."

Alejandro Tosti, Keith Mitchell, Taylor Pendrith and Ryan Gerard shot five-under 65s to by a shot from an eight-man group that featured Min Woo Lee, Victor Perez and Amgen Irish Open champion Rasmus Højgaard when play was suspended due to darkness with 16 players still to finish.

McIlroy was tied for 57th on level par while Seamus Power kept his Masters qualification hopes alive as Scottie Scheffler fired a bogey-free 67 to lurk just two shots off the lead

The West Waterford man needs to win at Memorial Park to secure his third appearance at Augusta National, and he still has a chance after opening with a one-under 69 in wet and windy conditions in Texas.

Power started on the back nine and turned in level par before making three birdies and two bogeys on the way home to share 36th place.

World number one and reigning Masters champion Scheffler was lurking just two shots off the pace after carding just his third bogey-free round this season and his first since the Farmers Insurance Open on February 23.

"I felt like I started to play a little bit better on the back nine," said Scheffler, who got up and down seven times for par with six of those saves coming in his first 11 holes.

"The first nine, I was kind of getting it around a little bit, but I still posted a score today. Conditions were pretty tough out there today with the rain and the wind, so overall nice to keep a clean card."

The Texan has yet to hit the kind of form that saw him shoot 28 sub-par rounds in a row before his run ended with a second-round 70 in Houston 12 months ago.

He won the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players last year and was joint second in Houston before winning the Masters and the following week's RBC Heritage.

So far this year, he's had two top 10s and three top 25s in five starts, and he was pleased to see positive signs in demanding conditions yesterday.

"Well, I'm always hoping there's some good golf around the corner, but I think today I did a good job, keeping a clean card is always really nice and posted a solid number,' Scheffler said.

"Obviously, I think in every round you can always feel like you can do a little bit more out there, but overall, three under bogey-free is a good solid start to the week.”

He added: "Overall, I think challenging conditions out there especially with the rain coming in and out and rain and wind can be pretty challenging as well, but overall did a pretty good job of keeping the card clean."

Veteran Pádraig Harrington (53) was 136th after he made just one birdie against three bogeys and a double-bogey at the 16th in a four-over 74.

On the DP World Tour, Conor Purcell fell victim to the demanding DLF Golf and Country Club in the Hero Indian Open New Delhi.

The former Walker Cup star made five birdies but four bogeys and two double bogeys, the last of them at his 18th, saw him card a three over 75 that left him tied for 80th.

He was seven shots behind Nicolas Colsaerts, Marcus Armitage and Marcus Kinhult, whose 68s gave them a one-shot lead over a six-man chasing group.

"It's a difficult golf course, and anyone who will shoot under par today is going to be extremely happy," said veteran Colsaerts (42) after a seven-birdie round.

"The rough is high this year, the greens are firmer and it's a little bit like a mini US Open. It's a really hard course."

Meanwhile, Leona Maguire fought back from two-over after six holes to open with a two-under 70 and trail Charley Hull by seven shots in the Ford Championship in Arizona.

Hull made nine birdies in a bogey-free 63 at Whirlwind’s Cattail Course in Chandler to lead by a shot in the clubhouse from Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen.

One-under after two holes, the Co Cavan star (29) double-bogeyed the short third and bogeyed the sixth before following a hat-trick of birdies from the 11th with another at the par-five 17th.