Davis Love III shoots 64 at Honda Classic

Associated Press

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla.

The more putts he makes, the more confidence he has over the putts that can turn a decent round into something much better.

That explains why Rory McIlroy opened with a 4-under 66 on Thursday in the Honda Classic, leaving him two shots behind Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III and a small step closer toward establishing himself as the best player in golf.

And that explains why Tiger Woods left PGA National feeling as if he played better than his score of 71.

Love made a hole-in-one and finished with two birdies to tie the course record at PGA National with a 64, making him the 10th player to post that number since the Honda Classic moved here five years ago.

Love is 47 and still competitive, even though his mind is largely on assembling a team and a strategy to win back the Ryder Cup this fall at Medinah. He has been around long enough to realize that a good opening round, while pleasing, doesn’t mean much.

“I’ve been hitting the ball real well, and a lot of tournaments last year I just didn’t get off to a good start,” Love said. “So I’m just glad to be off to a good start.”

Even so, the name that got all the attention was McIlroy, the 22-year-old U.S. Open champion from Northern Ireland. Coming off a runner-up finish in the Match Play Championship, he needs to win to reach No. 1 in the world.

His 66 didn’t seem to require much effort. McIlroy twice holed tricky par putts from about 5 feet on the first three holes, and from there gave himself plenty of looks from 20 feet and closer and made enough of them to open strongly in calm, morning conditions.

“That’s been a huge improvement, especially inside 6 feet,” McIlroy said. “I definitely don’t miss as many as I used to. I feel a lot more confident over those putts. I’ve always been pretty good from like 15 to 25 feet. I’ve always holed my fair share, but those putts that you should hole all the time are the only that I’ve definitely improved on.

“The more you see the ball go in from there, the more confidence you get.”

His lone bogey was a three-putt from 50 feet, understandable because McIlroy had not faced a putt over 25 feet for some three hours until the 17th hole of his round.

McIlroy was joined at 66 by a large group that included Justin Rose, Ryan Palmer and Harris English, the PGA Tour rookie who won on the Nationwide Tour last year as an amateur and has yet to miss a cut this year.

Most of the low scoring came from the morning, when conditions were soft and benign, and before the south Florida wind arrived. Woods played in the afternoon.

He only missed three greens, but failed to save par each time. His other bogey was a three-putt from 50 feet. He also failed to get up-and-down from left of the par-5 18th green, having to settle for par.

Woods only had two birdie chances inside 10 feet. He was tied for 68th, seven shots behind, going into Friday morning’s round.

“I didn’t get a whole lot out of my round,” Woods said. “I hit the ball a lot better than I scored, and I certainly putted well.”