Rory rallies; Leona and Max feeling ace
Rory McIlroy fired a warning shot across the bows of his rivals for next week’s Open Championship when he birdied the last three holes to keep the leaders in his sights in the Genesis Scottish Open.
As Pádraig Harrington bogeyed three of his last four for a one-under 69, McIlroy's hot finish allowed him to sign for a 68 that left him just four shots behind Nico Echavarria, Jake Knapp, Sepp Straka and Victor Perez despite feeling his game was at just “80 per cent” at the Renaissance Club.
After struggling in left-to-right winds, the Holywood star left an ambitious fairway bunker shot in the sand at the 15th but made a 24-footer for bogey, then turned on the jets and two-putted for birdie at the 16th before rolling in a 26-footer at the 17th and a 20-footer at the last.
“That was a good bogey in the end,” McIlroy said of the 15th. “But yeah, it was a great finish. Felt like the round was a bit stop-start, a little bit of rust in there, taking a couple of weeks off, but I found my rhythm and started hitting better shots on the way in.
“It was a good opening round. It's the sort of golf course and the sort of conditions where I feel like the field is going to be pretty bunched.
"So to only be four behind after the first day, feeling like I've still got my best stuff ahead of me, that feels good.”
His 68 left him tied 33rd and as Harrington explained, it gave him some crucial links practice for Royal Portrush.
“As frustrated as I am with my finish today… it’s about getting better the next three or four days going into next week, so next week we are not at step one,” Harrington said of his decision to skip a potential hat-trick of wins in the Champions Tour’s Dick’s Open in New York.
“We are further down the road.”
Harrington and McIlroy have eight majors between them, but Leona Maguire got off to a great start in her bid for her first at the Evian Championship.
The Cavan star holed an eight-iron for an ace at the 168-yard second (her 11th) and carded a six-under 65 to share the lead with Australians Gabriela Ruffels and Grace Kim and Americans Jennifer Kupcho and Andrea Lee, a shot clear of three-time major winner Minjee Lee.
"Just played really nice," said Maguire, who is playing her fifth event in a row. ”Hit a lot of fairways. Hit a lot of greens… pretty stress-free as it can be around here.
"Obviously, the hole-in-one on two was pretty special. I think my first one on the LPGA, so a nice place to do it."
There was also an ace for Max Kennedy at the HotelPlanner Tour’s D+D REAL Czech Challenge.
He holed an eight-iron from 167 yards at the fourth and went on to card a four-under 66.
“It was my first as a pro,” Kennedy said. “Rolled in like a putt!”
He was tied for 17th, just four shots behind Australia’s Danny List and Spain’s Albert Boneta, who shot eight-under 62s to head Denmark’s Christian Jacobsen by a shot.
In the PGA Tour’s opposite field ISCO Championship in Kentucky, Portmarnock’s Conor Purcell turned in four-under 31. But like Harrington in Scotland, he faded on his back nine and signed for a two-under 68 that left him seven shots behind Korea’s Chan Kim.
On the Epson Tour, Sara Byrne opened with a one-over 73 in the Hartford HealthCare Women's Championship presented by Munich Re in Connecticut.
She was tied for 50th, nine strokes behind Gina Kim after making two birdies and three bogeys in Milford.
