Rory McIlroy’s opening 3-under 69 at Valero Texas Open is steady yet theatrical

The golf hole and Rory McIlroy had an interesting relationship Thursday at the Valero Texas Open.

McIlroy carded a bogey-free, 3-under 69 in the opening round at TPC San Antonio, a solid showing in his third Valero appearance. It was his first bogey-free round on TOUR since the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches, and he was pleased with his patterns throughout the day – his misses tended to fall right Thursday, in contrast to a disconcerting left miss in recent weeks.

“My game over the last couple months has been quite volatile, so to go out there and play a solid round of golf in pretty tricky conditions, pretty happy with it,” McIlroy said afterward.

But his day featured no shortage of theatrics around the cup.

Example A: McIlroy’s 13-foot birdie putt on the par-5 eighth hole skirted past the hole on the left side, settling on the back edge for a few seconds before dropping, a cliffhanger-type situation that elicited a sheepish reaction from the world’s second-ranked pro. “I was just hoping for a gust of wind to come to blow it in and thankfully it did before the 10-second mark,” McIlroy said.

Example B: His 21-foot birdie try on the par-3 13th was struck with perfect pace, the ball eyeing the cup before making a late turn to the right and spinning out.

Example C: McIlroy’s 29-foot birdie chip at the par-5 18th tracked toward the hole, seemingly destined for an electric finish, before it sharply spun out from the hole’s right side in 90-degree fashion. He looked around as if searching for an explanation – the ball was tracking so well that his wedge’s face was already pointed to the sky before the ball reached the cup. The outcome was followed by a spinning club drop.

Nonetheless, it’s a satisfactory day in windy Texas conditions that leaves McIlroy inside the leaderboard’s top 10, if six strokes behind first-round leader Akshay Bhatia, who opened in 9-under 63.

After a recent lesson with Butch Harmon (with whom he has previously worked on occasion), McIlroy looked in good spirits throughout the day Thursday in the Lone Star State. He gained nearly 1.5 strokes off the tee and more than 1.6 strokes on approach, and he was just slightly above-average around and on the green. But the data doesn’t account for the narrow margins at the cup; he was perhaps millimeters from being a few strokes lower.

“What I've been trying to do the last couple weeks is no different than what I've been trying to do previously; he just sort of gave me a different way to do it,” said McIlroy of his lesson with Harmon. “You could tell someone five different things and like for the same feel – like to a piece of a swing, but sometimes none of them resonated, sometimes all of them, sometimes one thing. It's just one of those things over the past few months that nothing was resonating with me. He gave me a tiny little something that I went with and, as I said, it's felt a little better over the last two weeks and felt pretty good out there.”

McIlroy, of course, will eye the career Grand Slam at next week’s Masters Tournament; the four-time major champion has won each of the other three majors at least once. His last major title came at the 2014 PGA Championship; he has recorded 10 top-five finishes in major championships since his last win.

In the meantime, he seeks his 25th PGA TOUR title this week at TPC San Antonio – a mark held by Johnny Miller, Macdonald Smith and Tommy Armour. In a tangential but perhaps fitting omen, Armour’s grandson Tommy Armour III holds the Valero Texas Open’s record 72-hole total score (254, winning by seven strokes in 2003).

There’s a lot of golf to play, and McIlroy will chase several worthy contenders across the next 54 holes including Bhatia (63), Justin Lower (66), Max Homa (68) and more.

If the cup is a bit gentler, though, that ground could be made up in a hurry.