Sky Sports reports this morning; Ian
Poulter put together his best round of the year to claim a share of the lead as
Rory McIlroy struggled on day one of the RBC Heritage in South Carolina.
Poulter
negotiated the tight and tricky Harbour Town Golf Links course without undue
stress and alarm, racking up seven birdies
and keeping a bogey off his card in
a 64 that was matched only by American Mark Hubbard
European
Ryder Cup hopeful Viktor Hovland capped his 65 with a pitch-in for an eagle-two
at the ninth, the young Norwegian earning a share of second with six other
players, but McIlroy ended the round outside the top 100 and facing a battle
just to avoid a first missed cut in 16 starts since The Open.
But Poulter will have far loftier ambitions as he
looks to build on an ideal start on Hilton Head Island, which he summarised as
"pretty solid" despite a few errant tee shots that he is aware he
needs to address if he wants to don the tartan jacket on Sunday.
The
veteran Englishman took advantage of the par-five second and fifth holes get
under the card early on, and he added another at the ninth before almost holing
his approach into the 11th, where a tap-in for birdie lifted him smartly to
four under.
The 44-year-old picked up another shot at the 13th,
and he enjoyed an outstanding finish as he holed a 30-foot putt for birdie at
the 17th before a well-struck second from over 200 yards at the last settled
four feet from the pin and he converted the chance to hit the front.
"Any
time you shoot seven under par around this golf course, it's obviously a pretty
solid day," said Poulter, currently the world No 60. "When I teed
off, knowing there was a little bit of rain in the forecast, but the
opportunity with no wind, soft conditions, off to a perfect start. Made three
birdies on the front nine, four on the back.
"I
feel that I didn't hit it that well off the tee, so I need to go straight to
the range and address a few leaky right tee shots. But my iron play was pretty
solid. I holed out really well from inside seven feet, and it's obviously good
to finish with two birdies on the last two holes."
Hubbard was also bogey-free for the day and made an
eagle at the second while adding five birdies, while Hovland's scorecard was a
little more colourful as he birdied three of his first six holes, bogeyed 16
and 17 before bouncing back with three consecutive birdies from the first.
The
exciting 22-year-old then chipped in for his two at the ninth to close just one
shot off the lead alongside the likes of Webb Simpson, Ryan Palmer and South
African Dylan Frittelli, while Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau and Matt Fitzpatrick
are nicely placed on five under.
Spieth
was three over early in his round when he made a mess of the 12th - his third -
and ran up a triple-bogey seven, but he clawed one shot back at the next and
steadied himself with a good run of pars before producing a birdie-frenzy on
the front nine.
The three-time major champion reeled off six
consecutive birdies from the second and added one more at the ninth to complete
an outward 29, while Fitzpatrick's 65 was more conventional as he made five
birdies and got round without a blemish.
Brooks
Koepka, Rickie Fowler, Bryson DeChambeau and veteran Ernie Els all handed in
67s, but McIlroy finds himself eight strokes off the lead after a day of
fairway-finding issues - his inconsistency off the tee leading to three bogeys
on the back nine before he salvaged respectability with birdies at the fifth
and ninth, where he holed from 30 feet.
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