RORY McILROY ripped through the Canadian Open first round despite having ripped through a few glasses of wine the night before. The newly-single superstar had been out celebrating caddie Harry Diamond's birthday. And after his opening round he admitted he felt a little 'groggy' as he persevered through the front nine.
McIlroy was still feeling the effects of the night before as he didn't make a single birdie before the turn. However, he caught fire down the home stretch to wind up in third place on a total of four-under par. He was happy to share the reasoning behind him not exactly flying out of the blocks.
“A bit of a slow start,” McIlroy conceded. “Harry’s birthday dinner last night so had a couple of glasses of wine. "I was probably feeling a little groggy when I woke up.
” It was a rare slow and steady round from the Hollywood native who usually lives up to his hometown's name. But nine consecutive pars put him on solid footing from which to launch his bid to win the tournament for a third time . Remarkably, he conceded afterwards that he hadn't had a chance to get acquainted with the back nine beforehand.
He said: "I played the back nine blind. Hadn't seen the back nine. Only played the front nine in the pro-am.
"I was sort of happy enough to get out of there in even par and not make a bogey. "But once I got that nine holes out of the way, I knew there were some chances on that front side and played probably much better on that front side. "Four birdies there, .
