Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy blamed a “pedestrian” start as he finished five shots off the lead after the first round of the Houston Open in Texas.
The world number two carded an opening-round 70, hitting two birdies and two bogeys at the Memorial Park course to leave him five strokes off early joint-leaders Keith Mitchell, Taylor Pendrith, Alejandro Tosti and Ryan Gerard.
McIlroy, who is hoping to complete a career Grand Slam by winning the Masters next month, opted to play in Houston for the first time since 2014 in preparation for Augusta.
“A little pedestrian I guess is a good way to describe it,” McIlroy said.
“Made a few par saves early on that I needed to and then had quite a few chances on the second nine there that I didn’t convert.
“Yeah, sort of tale of two halves. I felt like I was scrambling for the most part on the first nine and then I feel like I left a couple out there on the last nine.”
Rain and wind made conditions difficult on the course while darkness forced play to be suspended at 7.28pm local time with a number of players unable to finish their round.
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