There must be something about the Ohio air for William McGirt. Less than a month after claiming the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village - his first win in 165 starts on the PGA Tour - the American pitched up in Akron and carded a sparkling round of 64 to set the pace in the early stages of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
Making his first start in a World Golf Championship event, the 37-year-old made the most of a red hot putter on a remarkable day at Firestone, his back nine featuring just eight putts as he holed out twice from off the green. His final putt, a 50-footer to save par from just off the 18th green, was perhaps the most satisfying of all.
“That was definitely stealing one, if not stealing two,” he joked after his round. Following his win at the Memorial, McGirt went on to miss the cut at the US Open and took the unusual decision to put his clubs away for a week and recharge the batteries. Reinvigorated, he believes that mental freshness led to today’s score.
“I did not touch a club last week, took the whole week off,” he explained. “It was great. I needed that, mentally and physically. It’s been a fun year, played a lot of really good golf and to be honest with you I was not surprised at all (about Thursday’s score).”
Defending champion Shane Lowry, playing in the last grouping alongside Bubba Watson and Hideki Matsuyama, had a scrappy start to his campaign, three early dropped shots not what he was hoping for following his second-placed finish at the US Open. He eventually signed off with a very disappointing 76.
World number one Jason Day had to rely on his short game as he moved to within three shots of McGirt’s lead. Day’s driving was far from ideal but the Australian’s ability to grind out pars when out of position kept him in contention while he took full advantage of any birdie opportunities that came his way.
