Call Rory McIlroy a traditionalist, a history lover or even as he put it, “a self-confessed golf nerd,” but the four-time major winner from Northern Ireland always has believed there’s something special about winning a national open.
“Most of the oldest events in our game are National Opens and I’ve been very fortunate enough to win quite a few,” said McIlroy, who won the 2019 RBC Canadian Open as well as the Australian Open, Hong Kong Open, Irish Open and U.S. Open. “One of the great things about our game is you can in some way compare yourself to historical figures. Figures that I’ve never met before, but I look at a trophy that my name’s on and Walter Hagan’s name is on there or Gene Sarazen or Byron Nelson or Ben Hogan or Jack Nicklaus or Arnold Palmer or whoever it is. And I think that’s one of the coolest things about our sport that not a lot of other sports can sort of tap into.”
McIlroy would love nothing more than to have his name etched on the RBC Canadian Open trophy again Sunday and his title defense at the 111th playing of this national open – three years later due to COVID-19 – in Toronto, Canada started swimmingly as he posted 4-under 66 at St. George’s Golf and Country Club.
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“Really solid start,” McIlroy said. “I felt like the course was there to go even lower just from the rain and how receptive it was.”
Indeed, Wyndham Clark proved McIlroy correct as he notched seven birdies in a bogey-free round of 63, to stake a claim to the early clubhouse lead. Clark, 28, ranks 125th in the FedEx Cup point standings and is searching for his maiden Tour victory. He said his game has been trending in the right direction and the stars aligned on Thursday as he hit 16 greens and led the field in Strokes Gained: putting, holing 116 feet of putts in all.
“I haven’t shot a low one in a while,” said Clark, whose previous season-low score was 65 at the American Express in January. “Today it all kind of came together.That’s all I felt I’ve needed all year was just a little jump start like this where I see some putts and it’s OK, I’m doing the right things, and I’m finally getting rewarded for all the hard work.”
Matt Fitzpatrick signed for the second-best score, 6-under 64, thanks to birdies on three of his first four holes. The Englishman, who has won seven times on the DP World Tour but also is seeking his first Tour title, struck it well from tee to green, ranking first in the field in that statistical category, and his putter worked to his satisfaction.
The recipe for success for Fitzpatrick and most of the leaders at St. George’s began with finding the fairway.
“It’s penal if you miss the fairways, it’s thick rough,” said McIlroy, who defied the odds of shooting a low score despite finding only 5 of 13 fairways. “If you hit it in the rough, you don’t have a chance of getting to some of the hole locations.”
McIlroy ranked second in SG: putting, including sinking a 10-foot birdie at the 196-yard par-3 16th.
“Probably hit my best shot of the day on 16,” McIlroy said. “Hit a lovely little held 5-iron into that right-hand hole location and birdied there.”
Clark ranked third in SG: Off-the-Tee, and noted the big stick helped set up an aggressive approach on Thursday.
“I drove it pretty good off the tee,” Clark said. “I did miss some fairways, but when I missed it, it wasn’t that bad.”
