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Rory McIlroy’s Masters preparations suffered another blow as he struggled to an opening 74 on his maiden appearance in the Valspar Championship.<\/p>\nRory McIlroy’s Masters preparations suffered another blow as he struggled to an opening 74 on his maiden appearance in the Valspar Championship.<\/p>\n
McIlroy’s only birdie came courtesy of holing a bunker shot on the seventh, his 16th hole of the day, while two bogeys and a clumsy double-bogey seven on the fifth left him three over par.<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old began the season in superb form with a tie for third in Abu Dhabi and a runners-up finish in Dubai, but missed the cut on his first PGA Tour start at Pebble Beach and followed that with a tie for 20th in the Genesis Open and 59th in the Honda Classic.<\/p>\n
Rory McIlroy hits out of the bunker on the 12th hole during the first round of the Valspar Championship golf tournament in Palm Harbor, Fla. AP Photo\/Mike Carlson
\nMcIlroy told a pre-tournament press conference at Innisbrook that he was “totally ready” for the Masters and felt he would have a good chance of the victory he needs at Augusta National to complete the career grand slam if the first major of the year got under way this week.<\/p>\n
But his performance on Thursday told a somewhat different story after starting from the 10th with 10 straight pars before failing to get up and down from a greenside bunker on the second.<\/p>\n
Worse was to come on the fifth after a wayward drive into the trees forced McIlroy to pitch out sideways, a mistake he compounded by taking four to get down from just short of the green.<\/p>\n
And although the birdie on the seventh repaired some of the damage, McIlroy dropped another shot on his final hole to finish three-over par, six shots off the early clubhouse lead shared by Whee Kim and Kelly Kraft.<\/p>\n
Masters champion Sergio Garcia had to settle for an opening 70 after dropping two shots in his last six holes, with Ryder Cup team-mates Justin Rose and Luke Donald also finishing one under par.<\/p>\n