Five bunker shots , four dropped shots , three missed putts from short range , two poor chips and one blow into the water . And that was just the front nine . It 's fair to say Rory McIlroy 's curious Florida funk continued in the opening round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral on Thursday . At least on the back nine there were enough good blows on show to hint it will not be too long before we can enjoy a more customary service . The world number one had an eagle and three birdies in a blistering five hole spell to come home in 33 blows and salvage a 73 . While that might have been barely ok in the context of the field as a whole it was a radical improvement on what appeared a likely score at halfway . McIlroy placed the blame on his outward half on being too tentative . 'After nine holes I thought there was really not much more to lose , so go ahead and be more aggressive , ' he said . 'It paid off a little and the eagle was really important . Hopefully I can get off to a better start in the second round and get back into it . ' Rory McIlroy hits a shot from the fairway during the first round of the Cadillac Championship in Florida . McIlroy lines up a putt on the 16th green during a difficult opening round for the world No 1 . McIlroy tries to play his way out a trouble after landing his shot in the bunker on the 17th hole . He 's certainly got some work to do . McIlroy will start out no fewer than 11 shots off the pace set by former American Ryder Cup player JB Holmes . Given there was a decent breeze blowing for most of the day , his 62 was a remarkable effort . Fellow American Ryan Moore shot 66 . World number three Henrik Stenson carded a 69 while Welshman Jamie Donaldson , runner-up here last year , composed a 70 comprising 16 pars and two birdies . As for McIlroy , a desperately mediocre outward half of 40 strokes meant he had played his first 45 holes in the Sunshine State this year , taking in last week 's two rounds at the Honda Classic , in a startling 11 over par . The world number one thought he had ironed out some difficulties he experienced in the wind last week but there was precious sign of it at this stage . World No 2 Bubba Watson plays his second shot on the 10th hole ad the American finished one under par . Henrik Stenson kept the heat on the leaders as the Swede finished the day 's play three under par . Opening up from the tenth offered the chance of a flying start , since there are two par fives in the first three holes . But McIlroy drove into fairway bunkers on both to squander the chance for early gains . Just to compound the frustration , his approach to the par four 11th was a metre short of being perfect , and plugged in a greenside bunker to bring about an unlucky bogey . So it continued . Every good iron shot he played he could n't take advantage , while every bad shot invariably led to more damage to his scorecard . Two over par coming to the 18th , McIlroy became another victim of this punishing hole as he found the water from the middle of the fairway with his approach , and failed to get up and down for a bogey from the side of the green . Welshman Jamie Donaldson composed a 70 comprising 16 pars and two birdies . It was n't until his 13th hole that we got the first glimpse of the real Rory . A sumptuous long iron to the difficult par three fourth set up his first birdie of the day and lit the spark on a run that saw him birdie two of the next three holes before registering an eagle three at the 8th . Even during this spell , however , there were sloppy bogeys at the 5th and the 9th . No wonder he headed straight to the range afterwards . Two players who will not be remembering their rounds with any affection were Phil Mickelson and Stephen Gallacher . Mickelson 's 74 was notable only for the fact it was the first time in 190 consecutive rounds on the PGA Tour that he had failed to register a single birdie . Poor Gallacher 's nightmare was even more complete . The Scot put two balls into the water at the 18th to complete an awful 84 . It was his worst competitive score in 455 events as a pro . Lee Westwood , who became the first man to play in 50 WGC events , was one over par after nine .
Rory McIlroy played a disastrous front nine in the opening round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral . Even at this early stage , McIlroy had fallen a distance behind his playing partners , world No 2 Bubba Watson and No 3 Jamie Donaldson . Welshman Henrik Stenson , runner-up at the tournament last year , composed a 70 comprising 16 pars and two birdies . Lee Westwood , playing in his 50th WGC event was one over par after nine .