Rory McIlroy is looking for his fourth straight victory on the PGA Tour, but he ran into a bit of trouble in the first round of The Barclays at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey.
McIlroy finished with a 74 after Thursday's first round, sitting 3-over par and eight shots behind co-leaders Hunter Mahan, Cameron Tringale and Charles Howell III, who all finished with a 66. McIlroy broke his 14 consecutive rounds under par streak that began at the British Open in Hoylake.
"It's more to do with just not putting the adequate time into my game over the past week for obvious reasons," said McIlroy of his round, in this ESPN article. "I think that's really been it. So I'm going to grab a bit to eat here and go to the range this afternoon and work on a few things and really just catch up on some practice that I probably missed out on over the past week."
McIlroy has been a bit preoccupied, appearing on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon this past Monday with Tiger Woods after returning to Europe to celebrate his PGA Championship victory with his family and attending Manchester United's opening Premier League match. His time off from golf showed on the front nine where he shot a 40.
Today's round is still going on and some notable names are not far off from the lead. Bubba Watson and Justin Rose (-3) are tied for ninth; Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Jim Furyk and Keegan Bradley (-2) are tied for 26th; and Phil Mickelson, Martin Kaymer and Jimmy Walker (E) are tied for 58th. The projected cut looks like it might be (-1) so Rory will have to do some more work tomorrow to ensure his participation throughout the weekend.
Including The Barclays there remains four events - the Deutsche Bank Championship, BMW Championship and THE TOUR Championship - until the Ryder Cup, which will take place from September 26-28. Rory looks to continue his recent success and bring the momentum into the Ryder Cup against the United States.
