The Honda Classic in Palm Beach Garden, Florida, isn't just notable for its $1,098,000 winning share or the 500 FedEx Cup points on the line. No, it's also notable because it's the first tournament of the year for No. 1 player Rory McIlroy.
McIlroy's place atop the golfing world continues to be incredibly important with Tiger Woods on another hiatus. Below, you'll find all of the latest leaderboard updates and analysis as McIlroy and the field attempt to take home the Honda Classic title.
Leaderboard
Round 1 Recap
The world's top golfer, Rory McIlroy, would probably like a mulligan after his first round at the Honda Classic. A second alternate who wasn't even sure if he would be golfing in the field, Jim Herman, is sitting pretty after Thursday.
It's a crazy world we live in, folks.
While McIlroy limped out to a three-over 73, Herman finished the day atop the leaderboard with his five-under 65 with Brendan Steele (66), Padraig Harrington (67), Martin Flores (67) and Patrick Reed (67) all nipping at his heels.
“I don’t ever recall leading," Herman said after his round, per Will Gray of GolfChannel.com.
There's a first for everything, it would seem.
But the story of the day was McIlroy, of course, who like many other players struggled with the windy conditions on Thursday. He could have been in much worse straits had he not finished with birdies on his last two holes, however, including this beautiful putt on No. 17:
McIlroy, who won this tournament in 2012, bogeyed three holes and surprisingly double-bogeyed at Nos. 1 and 5. That's not something you see often from the superstar, as Jason Sobel of the Golf Channel noted, while also getting McIlroy's feedback on his rough round:
McIlroy is going to face a battle on Friday, as he attempts to survive the cut, but he wasn't the only big name to struggle.
Justin Rose (73), Sergio Garcia (72) and Phil Mickelson (71), among others, struggled on Thursday.
While the whipping winds and strong gusts gave plenty of players problems, there were still a slew of amazing shots and surprising performances on the day. Reed had this lovely chip at No. 4, for instance:
Robert Allenby had a pretty amazing chip at No. 7 himself:
And then there was Luke Donald sinking this long birdie putt at the 16th:
For all of the winds, there were still plenty of highlights.
McIlroy will hope to provide a few more of them on Friday. If he doesn't, he's in danger of missing the cut, a result hardly befitting of the world's best player.
Herman, on the other hand, will have a battle on his hands to hold the lead, especially with a star like Reed close behind. Heading into the weekend, the Honda Open certainly isn't lacking for surprises, intrigue and storylines to follow.
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