Windy conditions made for a difficult first round at the Honda Classic, as golfers including world number 1
Rory McIlroy struggled through 18 holes on Thursday.
McIlroy’s first appearance of 2015 on the PGA Tour got off to a rocky start, with the Nike golfer hitting just 8 of 18 greens, finishing with a 3-over 73.
“The conditions were obviously very tricky from the start. From the first hole, it was always going to be a day like that. I feel like I salvaged something out of the round the last couple holes, but it was just a day to keep trying,” McIlroy told reporters afterwards.
Adding that the round, “wasn’t quite what I wanted, but hopefully tomorrow morning we get calmer conditions and we’re able to give ourselves a few more opportunities and make some birdies.”
Water hazards also proved to be a bit tricky for the golfers, with
Phil Mickelson finding himself waterlogged three-times over the final 8 holes. The Callaway player would go on to finish with a not-so-horrible 71.
But Spanish golfer
Sergio Garcia was determined to not let the water get the best of him. Donning his rain jacket to tackle a fully submerged ball on the 18th hole, Garcia was able to salvage par, impressively hitting the ball back onto the fairway.
Check out video below of the TaylorMade player’s great escape as well as the Vine video the PGA Tour put together of the incident.
