In overcast and breezy conditions at 11am on Thursday morning, World Number One Rory McIlroy was joined on the tenth tee of Doral Golf Resort & Spa by his closest rivals, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, to resume their battle for the coveted top spot.
The trio are all bidding to break their WGC ducks at this week’s US$8.5million event in Miami, where victory for either Donald or Westwood could end McIlroy’s reign as the best golfer on the planet.
It was McIlroy who got the show on the road, waiting until the crowd’s cheers and the roar from a plane overhead had died down before striking a rescue club down the right hand side of the fairway.
Donald, using his driver, pushed his tee shot into the right hand bunker, but followed up a solid recovery from the sand with a superb approach shot to three feet to open up with a birdie four and steal a march on McIlroy, who could only manage a par.
Westwood’s third shot, from the bunker, flew the green and ended up in the lake, prompting the World Number Three to take a penalty drop which resulted in an opening bogey.
Westwood also dropped successive shots at the next two holes to fall back to three over par, five shots behind Donald, who added a further gain at the 14th to climb to two under par, and three strokes behind McIlroy, who bounced back from a bogey at the 11th with a birdie at the 12th.
Australian Adam Scott currently leads the way on four under par, one stroke ahead of American Bubba Watson.
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