LUKE DONALD faces a battle to stop Rory McIlroy reclaiming the world number one ranking after a poor opening round in the wind-swept RBC Heritage in South Carolina yesterday.
Donald needs to finish in the top eight at Harbour Town – where he lost a play-off to Brandt Snedeker last year – to remain ahead of Ryder Cup team-mate McIlroy, who isn’t playing this week, in the rankings. Snedeker opened with a level-par 71.
Donald struggled to a four-over-par 75 to lie seven shots off the early clubhouse lead held by Chad Campbell, on four-under par, one ahead of Jim Furyk, who won at Harbour Town just two years ago.
It was tough going for the players, particularly for the early starters when the winds were at their highest.
American Blake Adams ended his round how he started it – with back-to-back birdies. In doing so, he took the early clubhouse lead with a two-under 69 on a blustery morning that began with temperatures only in the 40s.
“Not really the weather that I’m used to,” said Adams, who lives about 90 minutes away in Swainsboro, Georgia.
“I actually hit it great. This golf course, if you don’t hit it very well, it’s an uphill battle.”
Pádraig Harrington also struggled yesterday, as four bogeys and just one birdie left him on three-over par and six off the early lead.
Harrington, who parred his opening hole, the par-four 10th, dropped a shot at the next, but steadied the ship somewhat and didn’t drop another shot until his 13th hole, the par-three fourth.
He immediately reclaimed that shot when he birdied the par-five fifth, but bogies at seven and nine saw him sign for a 74.
Many struggled with the difficult conditions yesterday. On the course with the smallest greens on the PGA Tour and some of the tightest fairways, Harbour Town doesn’t exactly yield a ton of low scores at the best of times and that seemed to be holding true again this year, at least early on, and no one struggled more than South Korean Sang-Moon Bae who withdrew with a sore right shoulder following his opening round 83.
On the day, Bae made nine bogeys and two bogeys. He went out in 42 on the back nine at Harbour Town, where he had just one birdie – on the par-five second.
