The Gamers Championship: Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler in rivalry as three share early lead at TPC Sawgrass | Golf Information

Rory McIlroy overcame an erratic show off the tee to get inside a shot of the lead at The Gamers, as Scottie Scheffler made a robust begin to his title defence.

McIlroy discovered simply 4 fairways throughout an eventful opening spherical at TPC Sawgrass, the place he combined seven birdies with two bogeys to publish a five-under 67 and keep in contact with the early leaders.

Former main champion Lucas Glover set the clubhouse goal with an opening-round 66, later matched by JJ Spaun after a bogey-free spherical, with Camilo Villegas making a three-way tie after carding 5 birdies in a seven-hole stretch to additionally get to 6 beneath.

McIlroy shares fourth spot with Billy Horschel, Min Woo Lee, Akshay Bhatia and Max McGreevy, who nonetheless had two holes to finish when play was suspended at 7.34pm native time (11.34pm GMT) on account of darkness.

English duo Aaron Rai and Laurie Canter are a part of a logjam two off the tempo after opening-round 68s, whereas Scheffler – enjoying alongside McIlroy and trying to be a part of Jack Nicklaus as the one three-time winner of The Gamers – began with a three-under 69.

How ‘erratic’ McIlroy moved into rivalry

McIlroy made the dream begin when he rolled in from eight ft on the first and two-putted from 40 ft to reap the benefits of the par-five subsequent, solely to bogey the par-three third, miss a 10-foot birdie likelihood on the fourth and gap from the identical distance to avoid wasting par on the sixth.

The 35-year-old did not stand up and down from off the seventh inexperienced and carded his second bogey of the day, dropping him again to 1 beneath, earlier than sparking a cost up the leaderboard by making an eight-foot birdie on the par-five ninth.

McIlroy transformed from eight ft on the tenth and recovered from discovering timber off the following tee to birdie the par-five eleventh, with the 2019 champion leaping inside two of the lead when he added one other birdie from 12 ft on the par-four twelfth.

The 2019 champion continued to get better from wayward tee photographs to keep up his bogey-free again 9 and saved his greatest for the par-four final, the place a shocking punch-and-run – with a five-iron – from the pine straw arrange an eight-foot birdie.

“I used to be attempting to be disciplined and strategic, I simply did not execute that very nicely,” McIlroy instructed Sky Sports activities. “I did not hit plenty of fairways. I used to be attempting to chop it into play, did not do it very nicely, however any time I did miss a fairway I used to be capable of do one thing with it. I am not going to have the ability to experience my luck like that the remainder of the week.”

What else occurred on the opening day?

Scheffler combined 4 birdies with a lone bogey in his opening spherical, whereas Xander Schauffele – finishing that star-studded threeball – slipped again to degree par after a final-hole double-bogey.

Glover birdied every of the final 4 holes at TPC Sawgrass to set the preliminary clubhouse goal, with Villegas briefly going into the solo lead on seven beneath till a late bogey in his opening-round 66.

A congested leaderboard sees 19 gamers separated by two strokes, with Chandler Phillips amongst these two again after a outstanding four-under 68 that contained three eagles and a triple-bogey.

Jordan Spieth’s eventful opening 70 contained two eagles in his first seven holes, whereas Ryder Cup gamers Ludvig Aberg, Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood all began their event with one-under 71s.

Former world No 1 Justin Thomas wanted a birdie-birdie end to scramble a six-over 78 and faces a battle to make the reduce on Friday, whereas former FedExCup champion Viktor Hovland sits joint-bottom of the leaderboard after an eight-over 80.

5 gamers had been unable to complete their opening spherical and can return to complete at 8.50am native time (12.50pm GMT), with the second spherical beginning at 7.40am (11.40am GMT) as scheduled.

Watch The Gamers all through the week stay on Sky Sports activities. Dwell protection continues on Friday from 11.30am on Sky Sports activities Golf, with 10 further feeds – together with Featured Teams, Featured Holes and 6 bonus teams – on Sky Sports activities+. Get Sky Sports activities or stream with no contract on NOW.

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