Rory McIlroy finally climbed out of bed 10 pounds lighter from a bout of food poisoning and made six birdies for a 68. Jordan Spieth returned from his longest break without touching his golf clubs. He also had six birdies in a round of 68. Both felt good about their start yesterday in the HSBC Champions.
It just was not enough to be anywhere near the lead.
Branden Grace of South Africa, a month removed from his sterling performance in the Presidents Cup, made birdie on half of his holes at soft, vulnerable Sheshan International for a nine-under 63. It was the lowest opening round in the 11-year history of this World Golf Championship.
And all that got him was a one-shot lead.
“Today was phenomenal out there,” Grace said. “Barely had a breath of wind out there and the golf course is playing probably as easy as it could be playing. There’s some low scores out there. The guys are playing some great golf, and when you play on greens like this, it helps. You just have to get the ball on the right line and it goes in. It was fun.”
He made it sound simple, and the numbers backed him up.
The 78-man field produced 344 birdies and nine eagles, and it was a collective 189-under par.
Kevin Kisner made his debut in China by playing bogey-free for a 64. He was joined by Steven Bowditch of Australia and Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark, who opened with five birdies in six holes and was seven-under through 10 holes.
It was enough to make Olesen wonder how low he could go, though that ended when he made a sloppy bogey on the par-five 14th and he had to settle for a 64.
Dustin Johnson, who won the HSBC Champions the last time he was here two years ago, drilled a 3-wood over the water and onto the green at the par-five second hole and made eagle that helped send him to a 65 along with Patrick Reed and Danny Willett, who is No. 2 in the Race to Dubai in his bid to track down McIlroy.
At least McIlroy is playing.
He spent most of the previous two days in bed trying to cope with food poisoning.
His stomach was so sore and his body so stiff that he arrived earlier than usual to get loose on the range, and he was not sure what to expect when he teed it up at Sheshan for the first time in two years.
“Probably a little better than I was expecting out there, to be honest,” McIlroy said.
“I had not been out of bed for basically 48 hours, so I was really stiff, but whenever I got out there, I felt pretty good. Thankfully, it was a decent start, and now going to try to just get into the tournament,” McIlroy said.
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