Rory McIlroy’s bid for a second victory at The Players and a return to world No 1 has turned into a battle to make the cut after making a dismal start at TPC Sawgrass.
McIlroy played alongside Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler, the only two players above him the world rankings, where he endured an erratic day off the tee and a cold putter as he stumbled to a four-over 76.
The four-time major champion mixed two birdies with four bogeys and a double-bogey during a frustrating opening day at the PGA Tour's flagship event, leaving him 12 strokes behind early clubhouse leader Chad Ramey.
Scheffler was the pick of the morning marquee group as he birdied three of his last four holes to card a four-under 68, while world No 1 Rahm - chasing a sixth win in 11 worldwide starts - struggled on the greens as he settled for a one-under 71.
Mixed day for world's leading trio
McIlroy suffered a nightmare start to the tournament when he overhit a chip from the rough at the par-four 10th and then failed to get up and down from the sand, resulting in a double-bogey six, although made a two-putt birdie at the par-five next.
The 2019 champion missed an eight-foot birdie chance at the 12th and followed pars over his next two holes by finding the trees off the 15th tee on his way to a bogey, as his playing partners both opened with six consecutive pars.
Rahm two-putted from 12 feet to take advantage of the par-five 16th, where McIlroy three-putted for par after a stunning recovery from the trees, with the Spaniard then rolling in from 10 feet at the 18th to reach the turn in two under.
Scheffler moved alongside Rahm by starting his second nine with successive birdies, while McIlroy slipped further down the leaderboard when another leaked tee shot to the right at the first set up another bogey.
McIlroy cancelled out a dropped shot at the third by flicking a wedge to close range at the next, where Rahm was unable to convert his birdie look from inside six feet, while Scheffler responded to a bogey at the fifth by picking up a shot at the next.
Scheffler holed a birdie from the fringe at the seventh and two-putted from 50 feet to birdie the last, lifting him within four of the lead, as Rahm carded a penultimate-hole bogey and McIlroy signed off a forgettable day by failing to save par at the par-five ninth.
Driver disappointment for McIlroy
McIlroy also struggled off the tee during the Genesis Invitational last month and during the opening round of last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational, with the former world No 1 admitting it is taking time to adjust to a new driver in the bag.
"I wish I could use my driver from last year, but I can't just because - you use a driver for so long, and it starts to get a little too -- basically it just wouldn't pass the test," McIlroy explained to reporters.
"These driver heads are so finicky, it's hard to get one exactly the same. I'm obviously trying my best, trying to get something that's as close to what I had last year. Just struggled a little bit off the tee the last couple weeks.
"This one is as close as it's been. Yeah, there's obviously a part of it that's the user, as well. It's quite a lot of user error in there, as well.
"They were testing drivers at Riviera [last month], but I just didn't even want to take the chance. I just was not comfortable knowing that it doesn't look good on me, doesn't look good on TaylorMade."
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