Rory McIlroy cards an up-and-down first-round 69 in the DP World India Championship after deciding to leave his driver out of the bag.
DP World India Championship - first round
-7 K Nakajima (Jpn); -5 J Campillo (Spa); -4 J Luiten (Ned), N Elvira (Spa), B Griffin (US), M Schneider (Ger), M Kim (US), D Sheoran (Ind)
Selected others: -3 R McIlroy (NI), A Sullivan (Eng); -1 V Hovland (Nor)
Full leaderboard(first round ongoing)
Rory McIlroy carded an up-and-down first-round 69 in the DP World India Championship after deciding to leave his driver out of the bag.
Playing for the first time since helping Europe win the Ryder Cup in New York last month, McIlroy fired six birdies and three bogeys to sit four shots off Japan's Keita Nakajima.
Despite opting for a safer approach off the tee, Northern Ireland's McIlroy said he still found Delhi Golf Club trickier than expected.
"You're just really trying to be as conservative as possible off the tee and then you're trying to pick off birdies on the par-fives and then maybe pick up a couple more, but it's a tricky golf course," said the five-time major winner.
"I thought some of the hole locations early on were really tricky. You play a practice round or a pro-am, the pins are all in the middle of the green, and then you get to tournament day and they start to tuck them away a little bit, and of course definitely played a little tougher than I expected."
- People remembering Ryder Cup for 'wrong reason'
- Why Ryder Cup players get free pass to season-ending DP World Tour play-offs
Starting at the 10th, McIlroy birdied his opening hole before slipping to back-to-back bogeys. He picked up shots on the par-fives 14th and 18th and gained three more shots on his back nine before a bogey six at the eighth.
The Masters champion said he has no plans to change his strategy off the tee.
"You just have to get the ball in the fairway," he said.
"The rough is unpredictable. You get a lot of fliers like I did with the last two there."
Nakajima carded eight birdies and one bogey in an impressive opening 65.
The 25-year-old, whose sole DP World Tour victory came at last year's Indian Open, is two shots clear of Spain's Jorge Campillo.
Playing with McIlroy, US Ryder Cup player Ben Griffin opened with a 68 while McIlroy's European team-mate Viktor Hovland signed for a 71.
European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald and stars Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry were among the later starters in the first round.
Category: General Sports
