Magnificent McIlroy: Rory Looks Strong With Opening 64 In Dubai

There are times when Rory McIlroy is flat-out, jaw-dropping, amazing.

There are times when he makes the difficult game of golf look incredibly easy.

There are times when he hits shots that will absolutely blow your mind.

One of those mind-numbing shots came on his final hole Thursday at the DP World Tour Championship.

Rory had just crushed one of those 334 yards drives that we’ve seen so very often.  The 18th hole on the Earth Course at the Jumeriah Golf Estates is a 620-yard par five.  After that monster drive, Rory was looking, by his own measurements — “I had 272 front, 291 to the pin.  I carry my three-wood off the deck 280 so I was obviously at the limit.”

We often ask ourselves — what is Rory’s “limit?”

He didn’t appear to have one on this second into that closing hole.  He hit a towering blast and landed soft as a nine-iron and settled just outside four feet from the hole.  “Honestly the best shot I’ve hit all year,” McIlroy admitted.

The shot was simply incredible.  He easy rolled in the eagle-putt and put up an eight-under par 64 on day one of this finale for the European Tour.  Sure, Mike Lorenzo Vera from France had the day one lead, shooting his career round to nip Rory by a shot.  Truth be known, Vera will have his hands full on the weekend — he’s never won on the European Tour, had a Challenge Tour win on his resume.

Rory’s opening day performance wasn’t great news for the rest of the field.  At this event when he opens with 67 or better, he’s finished first-second-first.

“It was great,” McIlroy said after his work was done.  “I started off fast, four-under through six, five-under through seven.  Holed a couple of really good putts.  It was a little slow at the start of the back nine.  Obviously nice to finish the way I did.”

Good thing it was a “little slow” early on the back nine.  A sub-standard bunker shot from a deep greenside bunker at the 12th produce his only bogey of the day but he bounced back with back-to-back birdies at the 15th and 16th then his effort at the 18th which reminded us of Tiger Woods in his absolute prime.

McIlroy looked at ease all day.  “My patience paid off,” he said.  He never pushed it at any point in the round.

Rory wasn’t the only big gun bearing down on Vera.

Jon Rahm shot 66 while last week’s winner — Tommy Fleetwood, shot 67.  Fleetwood kept his eagle streak going.  He jarred his approach at the first hole for an eagle-two.

But it was McIlroy getting the most attention on day one and for good reason.  He comes in fresh off a win in his last event — the HSBC Champions.

McIlroy wasn’t shy about his confidence level.  “It (64) gives me a lot of confidence going into the next few days.”

Another win would get Rory even closer to No. 1 Brooks Koepka, who is out of action and won’t play next month in the Presidents Cup.  Fact is, Koepka could be facing knee surgery shortly.

But McIloy looked stronger than ever Thursday.

“It’s still early in my career,” McIlroy pointed out.  “There’s so much more I want to do.”

Editor’s Note/Update:  Golf is a crazy game and day two proved that.  As good as Rory was on Thursday, he struggled like all get out on Friday.  Main culprit was the driver out of wack and his iron play wasn’t anything to write home about.  Overall, the scores for the field were higher.  Heavy rain this past Wednesday softened the putting surfaces for Thursday but once they dried out, they became firm and faster on Friday and that had most of the field playing defense, including McIlroy.  Rory was simply awful compared to Thursday.  Couldn’t find a fairway, irons were off and he finished with a 74.  He’s still in it but will have a lot of work to do on the weekend.  As for Vera, he shot 69 and is 12-under par, which ties the 36-hole record for the event.  Note that Vera has held the 36-hole lead five times on the European Tour but has failed to convert in all five.  He’s got two big guns just three behind him — Tommy Fleetwood and Jon Rahm.  Vera has his work cut out for him with those two chasing.  As for Rory, his 74 left him six shots out of the lead.

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