Finland’s Mikko Ilonen ignored the script to easily outshine his more-fancied local rivals, including double-major-winning Rory McIlroy, on the opening day of the Irish Open on Thursday.
Ilonen, 34, celebrated his 300th European Tour event by setting a new course record of seven-under-par 64 in superb scoring conditions on the Fota Island course in Cork.
The Finn ended the round with a two-shot lead over the trio of Germany’s Marcel Siem and the Swedish pair of Robert Karlsson and Magnus Carlsson.
In contrast, McIlroy, the highest world-ranked player in the field at No. 6, finds himself starting the second round sharing 125th place in the 156-strong field.
McIlroy could manage just three birdies and double the number of bogeys in a three-over-par 74 to trail the triple tour-winning Finn by 10 shots.
Ilonen capped his round by birdying five of his closing seven holes and taking just 26 putts.
“A couple of weeks ago in Sweden I was playing really well and I finished 32nd, and it’s still really a mystery how I finished 32nd that week, because I was actually hitting my best shots of the year there,” Ilonen said.
“I felt really calm with the putter and today really it’s just still there, but we still have a long way to go,” Ilonen added.
And while Ilonen sets his sights on a fourth tour victory, he is also looking to break into the world’s top 50 for the first time in his career.
He is currently ranked 63rd, one place lower than his career high of 62nd in December 2007.
However, McIlroy paid a price for disruptions to his preparation, including losing his clubs and struggling to hit just eight of the 14 fairways and taking 30 putts in a round of 74.
“I’ve still got a little bit of jet-lag, for sure, coming from the US Open,” he said.
“I wasn’t able to do much on Monday or Tuesday because the clubs didn’t arrive until yesterday, so that was a little bit frustrating more than anything else,” he said.
“But I did a really good practice session on the range last night after the Pro-Am and was feeling good going out this morning,” he said.
“However, I just couldn’t really put it together as I was very sloppy with the scoring clubs today, wedges, the short game, the putting. All that was just a little off,” he added.
“So, hopefully, that is my poor round for the week and I can do a better job of that tomorrow and obviously I’ll need something in the low 60s just to be here on the weekend,” McIlroy said.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
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EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
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