Northern Ireland’s McIlroy got off to an awful start as his opening tee shot flew into trouble before a thinned shot out of one greenside bunker to another saw him eventually take a six.
Playing in the Scottsdale event for the first time, the former world number one double bogeyed his first hole and missed a further shot at the next.
But three birdies before the turn got him back to level par and he improved to two under before a late bogey.
Despite the global pandemic, a crowd of 5,000 spectators is being allowed in the tournament.
Rory McIlroy found himself in a similar situation to Patrick Reed on Saturday at Torrey Pines.
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) January 31, 2021
Here’s why the PGA TOUR was also ok with Rory’s drop: https://t.co/8Qd0VaLyCj pic.twitter.com/iRPEhVBkie
The 31-year old revealed on Wednesday that the embedded ball incident at last week’s Farmers Insurance Open was the result of a volunteer stepping on it during a search but not telling him and also said in his media conference that the governing bodies’ proposed rule changes to reduce distance in golf “reeked of self-importance”.
