Rory McIlroy during the first round of the 2024 Valero Texas Open. | Photo by Brennan Asplen/Getty Images
Rory McIlroy had a solid round at TPC San Antonio, where he now finds himself contending at the Valero Texas Open.
On TPC San Antonio’s par-5 8th hole on Thursday, Rory McIlroy faced a 13-footer for birdie.
He hit a clean stroke with his mallet putter, but his ball slowed down as it approached the hole. Then, it stopped right on the left edge, teasing McIlroy for a brief moment. But a gust of wind blew across the green, giving it the extra push it needed, as it finally fell in the hole.
“I backed off the ball twice because of the wind. I could feel the wind at my back, so I’m like, do I play the wind, do I not play the wind?” McIlroy said.
“When I ended up hitting the putt, there wasn’t really a ton of wind there, and I thought I missed it on the left side. Obviously, the ball hung on the edge, and I was just hoping for a gust of wind to blow it in, and thankfully, it did before the 10-second mark.”
That putt marked McIlroy’s second birdie of the day. He made one more on the par-4 17th, totaling a 3-under 69 to put himself in contention at the Valero Texas Open. He did not make a bogey on Thursday, either.
But his birdie at the 8th drew comparisons to Tiger Woods’ famous shot on the 16th hole at Augusta National during the 2005 Masters. Like McIlroy’s, Woods’ ball hung on the edge for a second, then fell in the hole for an improbable birdie. That shot elicited one of the greatest calls in sports broadcasting history, with Verne Lundquist asking, “In your life, have you ever seen anything like that?”
Yet, funny enough, McIlroy said after Thursday’s round that something similar to what he experienced on the 8th hole had happened to him before.
Overall, though, McIlroy played solid. He has yet to record a top 10 on the PGA Tour so far this season, and after 18 holes of play, he sat in a tie for 8th.
“I thought I played pretty well, hit some nice shots, played pretty consistently,” McIlroy added.
“I think it’s the first round I’ve had without a bogey in quite a while. My game over the last couple of months has been quite volatile, so to go out there and play a solid round of golf in pretty tricky conditions, I’m pretty happy with it.”
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
