It was a sight that we were once accustomed to, but in 2013 it has become an all too rare occurrence. However, Rory McIlroy is at the summit of a leaderboard once again after the first round of the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai.
In 2012, McIlroy won five times, including the PGA Championship, in a season that saw him lead the money lists on both sides of the Atlantic. 2013, though, has been a nadir year, with no victories, few contending opportunities to be had, and a touch of controversy never far away from the Northern Irishman. In that time, the 24-year-old fell from world number one to sixth - his decline as astonishing as his stunning surge in the latter half of last year. However, he looked back to his best at Sheshan International.
After taking four weeks off after he was eliminated from the FedEx Cup Playoffs, McIlroy finished second in the Kolon Korea Open on the One Asia Tour. While that performance was admittedly against a field lacking in star power, it was an important boost for a player who has struggled to put rounds together all year. He carried that into last week’s BMW Masters, where he finished in a tie for 27th. However, perhaps the defining confidence boost was his one-shot defeat of Tiger Woods in an exhibition match on Monday.
Playing well is a requirement for McIlroy, who is narrowly outside the top 60 on the Race to Dubai money list. He came into this week in 62nd place, €4,000 off the crucial top 60 that would ensure of his participation in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
Of course, with a first prize of €1,012,145 available in this lucrative World Golf Championship, winning would remove any concern about qualifying for Dubai.
The two-time major winner set about that task sublimely on Thursday, as a seven-under round of 65 took him two shots clear of Jamie Donaldson and last week’s winner Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano. In a stellar field of 78 players, American sensation Jordan Spieth is three back of the Northern Irishman, alongside Tommy Fleetwood, Bubba Watson and Justin Rose.
Starting on the tenth, McIlroy would open with a birdie, before surrendering that on the next hole. Inconsistency has been an unfortunate recurring trend in the 24-year-olds round this year, but he bounced back instantly with birdies at the 12th, 14th and 16th. That set the tone for what was going to be a promising day, and he made the turn in 32 after a birdie at the par five 18th.
He would carry that form into his back nine, after making another birdie at the first. That took him into a share of the lead at five-under. He wouldn’t be in that tie for long, after he pulled clear with a birdie on the par five second. Things could have been even rosier for McIlroy, after he missed a six-foot putt on the third to move a further shot ahead.
At this point, Open Champion Phil Mickelson surged through the field and drew himself level with McIlroy, after a birdie at the seventh took the 43-year-old to six-under for the round. However, the five-time major champion would dramatically conspire to throw away that good work, with an astonishing quadruple bogey nine on the par five eighth.
It was a catalogue of errors, after his third shot came up short and trickled back down a back into the water hazard that protects the front of the green. After taking a penalty drop, Mickelson would stunningly find the water once again with his fifth shot. Eventually arriving on the putting surface with his seventh shot, the world number three would two-putt for an ignominious quadruple-bogey.
As McIlroy moved further ahead with a birdie at the seventh, Mickelson compounded that disastrous penultimate hole with a closing bogey on the ninth that saw him settle for an opening round of 71, having been on course for a 66 after 16 holes.
However, this day was to be Rory McIlroy’s, and after signing for an opening round of 65, he reflected upon what had been arguably his most impressive performance this year.
“I came here yesterday and talked about how I like this golf course and how I felt like it set up well for me,” said McIlroy. “It felt good to be out there and be in control of my golf ball. I gave myself a lot of looks for birdies.
”It's a great start. It's only one round of golf but it's definitely the way I wanted and needed to start this week, keeping in mind that I obviously want to play myself into Dubai and try to pick up my first win of the season, as well.
”It felt pretty good out there. I let a couple of putts get away from me, a couple of the downhill ones, but I was able to hole ones coming back, which was good.”
This season, much attention was placed on the significance of his lucrative equipment change to Nike, in addition to his ongoing relationship with Tennis star Caroline Wozniacki, and legal proceedings that have begun after he dropped his management company. These have all been put forward as factors, as observers sought to find an answer to why McIlroy has struggled so badly on the course this year. However, for the player himself, it’s been all about patience.
”I've tried to stay patient the entire season, and I know that if I believe that I'm working on the right things and I am working on the right things, then things will start to fall into place sooner or later.
”It's obviously frustrating when you've had a couple of seasons previously where you have had success, and not being able to emulate that; there's times where you definitely get frustrated. I wouldn't say that I was restless in terms of trying to get a win this season, because I think that the best way to approach it is to stay patient and not to force the issue too much.”