The Players Round 1: Rory McIlroy shoots 65 but has rules controversy | Golf Channel Podcast

In this opening-round recap from The Players Championship, the guys break down the biggest stories of the day – from Rory McIlroy’s resurgent 65 to his controversial drop late in his round to another stellar day from Scottie Scheffler. #ThePlayersChampionship #PGATour #GolfChannel

Chapters:
0:00: For one day, at least, Rory’s iron play is back
03:00: Breaking down his controversial drops on Nos. 7 and 18
09:00: Did Rory and Jordan Spieth’s recent difference of opinion factor into the contentiousness?
11:30: What else stood out from the opening round at TPC Sawgrass
15:30: Another ho-hum 67 from the world No. 1
19:00: What we’re watching Friday at The Players
Welcome to Golf Channel’s official YouTube channel. We are the #1 destination for everything golf – 24/7. Find golf instruction tips, sneak peeks to our original series, news and tournament coverage. We are part of the NBC Sports Group.

Discover what else Golf Channel has to offer:
Live Coverage on Peacock: https://peacocktv.smart.link/v82e9dl56
Live Scores: http://bit.ly/GCScores
TV Schedule: https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/schedule
Instructional Tips: https://www.golfpass.com/learn
Golf Course Reviews: http://bit.ly/GCCourseReviews

The Players Round 1: Rory McIlroy shoots 65 but has rules controversy | Golf Channel Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/golfchannel?sub_confirmation=1

Hello and welcome into this edition of the Golf Channel podcast with Rex and lab day one of the PLAYERS Championship is in the books and folks it certainly appears we’ve got a doozy underway three of the top six players in the official world golf rankings please save your

Commentary for the owgr until after this podcast is over but Roy maroy Xander shaffle and Windam Clark are tied for the lead at the PJ tours Flagship event here at TBC sass after opening seven under 60 fives actually pretty stacked leaderboard you have Phoenix Open winner

Nick Taylor up there uh former US Open Champion Matt Fitzpatrick also a shot back and of course world number one sky shuffler fresh off last week’s victory at beill just two shots behind as well what’s stood out from day one uh well Roy maoy let’s go ahead and just start

With that I mean we if we said anything else we would just be bearing the lead and I don’t want to do that at this point I think what happened with Rory’s round on many levels since we can start with his play I mean we talked about

This earlier in the week in the podcast I think we talked about it Sunday night from Bay Hill his his wood play off the T boox Three Wood just Sublime so good uh second in the field second only to Scotty Sheffer last week and then I

Think he was 55 out of 58 players who uh uh he was 55th out of 58 players in Strokes gain approach it was just a terrible week ball striking from the Fairway and he talked about it earlier this week that he had found a fix I think the conversation that you and I

Had I put Scotty one and and Rory 1B you kind of took exception to it I’ll give you credit you capitulated on live TV I would suggest everyone to go back and and clip that and and take a look at it but to be fair I was taking a bit of a

Flyer I did not know I was taking Rory at his word I was Rory Rory him said he did today he did not know what to expect and he was coming to the golf course with zero expectation so I think his his guess was just as good as ours was going

To be yeah and I think you talked to Rory you talked to people in his Camp there was a degree of optimism they felt like he had figured it out essentially it’s two swings you have a driver swing and you have an iron swing and he just

Has to convince himself when you stand on a t boox okay this is a driver swing when he’s in the Fairway this is the iron swing twice today that seems like the wires got crossed and we we’re going to talk about that he came over the top on some drivers at some inopportune

Moments but that’s first and foremost and I I think we shouldn’t ignore this part it’s because he’s going to get glossed over because of what’s happening but he puted really really well as well so everything kind of fell into play for Rory maroy today except two holes and

That was the 18th hole and the seventh hole where he came over the top and hit his drivers into the water on both occasions and you and I both wrote about it today on both occasions there was some sort of question about where his ball crossed into the hazard where it

Bounced where maybe cross the red line and where he ended up taking his drop probably the one at 18 is not that big of a deal but the one at seven seemed like it was the big deal because that’s where we we pick up the audio I suggest everyone go to golf ch

And read what sort of transpired between his playing Partners Jordan spe and Victor hlin because it’s one of those situations in golf like nothing gets golf Twitter and golf social media fired up like some sort of rules controversy either either real or perceived I think this one was perceived but we don’t know

Yet because neither Jordan nor Victor stopped to talk to us about it yeah this was actually like a much needed reprieve from all the talk about billions and the Saudis and improving product like we have not had a good old-fashioned rules controversy in a very long time and it

And it always seems to Bubble up here does it not Rex at TPC sress remember a couple years ago I think it was actually Victor havin was also involved in that one with Daniel burer obviously the infamous one with Tiger Woods and Casey Wittenberg back in 2013 Rory himself

Said this golf course is just more conducive to those types of situations for whatever recent I think there’s a lot of kind of visual deception from the tea with t boxes going one way Airways going another way hazards kind of in every uh which direction and so there I

Certainly think there’s definitely some judgment calls when it comes to where exactly it crossed where it hit uh there’s some there’s some blind shots as well so I can see uh where that could uh potentially cause some issues just to button up the play if you’re Roy maell

You have to feel phenomenal walking off the golf course today he he is arguably driving the ball as well as he ever has in his entire career and yet as we’re recording this podcast he’s currently 109th in the field Strokes gained off the tea of 143 players who are currently

Playing uh Tom Kim wded because of illness earlier today you mentioned the two t- shots 18 was certainly a surprise we were thinking this is he’s potentially going to tie the the nine hole scoring record at TPC Saw Grass on the back nine with a 29 inste he kind of

Ropes it and you’re exactly right where that was a situation where he he was was pretty sure where it was crossed consulted with the rest of his playing Partners ended up having what 280 into the the whole for third shot ended up hitting it up on the green and making

Bogey as you mentioned Rex the big controversy and I think the story of day one was what transpired on the seventh Old Roy 16th of the day according to Roy ma he said he was quote adamant that his ball hit above the penalty area and then

Kicked back in to the water and that he was able to drop there but there was certainly a discrepancy uh people on site people in the vicinity uh weren’t sure one way or another it was a it was a big deal because it potentially would have been a 250 yard difference roughly

Between where Rory was going to be dropping uh where he thought and and if he didn’t where it exactly crossed I’m not sure Rex who who you think was in was in the right here obviously spe has a right to protect himself protect the field Roy was certainly defending

Himself as well but reading the transcript listening to Rory again Jordan spe literally ran into the clubhouse literally Ram like from the score from the scoring 10 he running away from us but he was running away from something or running to one of he was running he was running away to

Whatever the case may be and Victor havin who actually uh double bogied his last hole of the day did decline to speak with the media as well but who do you think was anyone in the wrong here Rex do you think the right ruling was administered on this one I think it was

And here’s why I say that and again we’re going to I’m going to withhold a motic come of judgment because again I really want to talk to Jordan I really want to talk to Victor and get their thoughts when you listen to what they actually said and look I watched the the

Tape a couple times it kind of turned into the Zer film today and it definitely bounces before it goes into the water the question is how far down the bank did it bounce was it below or above the red line golf rules can be stupid sometimes this is one of those

Situations but even Rory after the round when we asked him you know can you tell us what was transpiring between you and Jordan Speed even Rory was really quick to say look he was just trying to protect the field like that’s what a felt competitor should be and I think

And we have seen this from Roy maroy he will go out of his way to make sure that whatever it is he’s doing is right I I think it was interesting he called it karma in basketball they call that the ball don’t lie like if had you taken a

Bad drop it’s going to catch up with you sooner or later maybe it’s not today maybe it’s not tomorrow but it catches up with you so I do believe that it was a little testy though it was a little testy though Rex it seems like it it

Seems like it and this probably factors into the fact that they they probably weren’t crazy they didn’t seem to be crazy about what happened on 18 but they sort of seem to move on and dismiss it really quickly and now it happened again within seven holes and you’re probably

Thinking to yourself how many times is this going to come up so that probably factors into it as well I would like to think that if Jordan spe really felt that passionate about it that maybe he doesn’t stop to talk to us but he’s certainly talking with rules officials

Before he walks out and he makes his point clear that I don’t think it crossed the line that’s not what I read that’s not what I heard him say during the actual telecast it seemed like he was trying to relay that someone on the te he said someone in the media I’m not

Even quite sure who that would be said that it hit below the red line which meant that he would have had to drop essentially back on the T box to your point giving up 250 yards he also was really quick St Jordan was really quick of saying I didn’t see it Victor was

Also really quick saying I didn’t see it does not matter exactly if if you’re hearing from the spotter if you’re hearing from uh some random fan if you’re hearing from a media member if you’re hearing from a from a a a a TV guy who just happened to

Be in the area and they say that it hit that’s not good enough it needs to come from the from the fellow playing competitor and both Jordan speth and Victor havin both said either some variation of I have no idea or I’m not sure in the absence of concrete video

Evidence that’s not that’s not good enough to go for and the tie essentially goes to to Roy marroy how much Rex do you read into the situation between these two personalities if you recall you cover the tournament at Pebble Beach there was a little bit of a back and

Forth between what what Roy said the media what spe said Roy removed himself from the the star player group chat do you think that factored into any of the contentiousness that we saw unfold in the seventh hole I mean I hope not because I mean my entire column today

Was based on the idea that you if you want to russle golf out of this slump this this bad hole that it’s in right now where we’re talking about money we’re talking about deals we’re talking about players who are greedy whatever the case may be this is the this is the

Best way to do it get a top player who’s actually playing very very well puts himself on top of the leaderboard and has not one but two rules controversies in the single round like that was the only way this was going to work out that being said yeah I think there’s

Certainly animosity across the PGA Tour there seems to be a lot of different factions for a lot of different reasons and it’s born from all of the things that we’ve talked about whether if you’re one of those top players that believes like the the smaller the feels

The better well if you’re not a top player and you feel like you’re getting axed out whatever the case may be everyone sort of has their ideas of what they want the tour to become and it’s gotten to the point where it has become personal I don’t know that that factored

Into this is was that your take on it no I I I actually hadn’t thought of that until another media member brought up just just kind of the backdrop between those two players in particular those two players between Jordan spe and Roy M they had the I would call it the

Testiest exchange where Jordan said everyone quote everyone here uh saw that that it bounced below the red line and and Roy shot back well who’s everybody Jordan and he kind of capitulated at at at that point just to put a fine point on this re I know we need to keep this

Podcast moving along Roy MC still made double bogey on this whole it wasn’t like he he escaped with a par and now there’s there’s this you know this this mystery that’s that’s that’s that’s shrouding his opening 65 here like he was still properly penalized uh for what

Was a a poor shot and listening to Roy ma afterward he is convinced that he did the right thing and there should be that that should be kind of the end of the controversy here he said he’s one of the most conscientious golfers on on the PGA

Tour he knows that you know it would play on his conscience he said for the remainder of the round if he felt like he was doing something wrong he knows Jordan was just trying to protect the field he was defending himself he was adamant that he did the right thing and

He does not believe that either of those two drops on other the seventh hole or the 18th hole there was any sort of wrongdoing what else Rex stood out to you on day one at TBC s grass well and to put a you know sort of appeared on

All of this our own Todd Lewis asked Rory at the end of his interview today if he was comfortable with what happened on seven given that there seemed to be some sort of controversy and he was clear he said he was comfortable so I don’t know that that’s the end of the

Conversation but it’s certainly going to be a big part of the conversation uh I the the thing that probably stood out was how gettable TPC Sawgrass was I I started to take a look at scoring averages about midday and it was hovering right about 71 and a half

Strokes and I went back and you had to go back five years to get any anywhere close to that now it got a little bit more difficult in the afternoon but it was still 71 Point Whatever by the end of the day you had to go back five years

To see the golf course play that easy we didn’t have a lot of wind a little bit more wind in the afternoon but Golf Course is soft it’s in perfect condition you saw very very aggressive play and I think that’s going to be sort of the

Standard going the rest of the week I think we have a a forecast that’s varying a little bit but these seems to be what this seems to be what we’re going to get yeah I think I think we’re really poised for a spectacular weekend here not just because the star players

But also the course conditions it hasn’t rained uh in essentially five days here now so I think the course will continue to dry out the wind’s supposed to pick up I was a little disappointed that it’s still as soft and as receptive as the golf course is you saw a lot of shots

Ripping off uh the the fronts of the greens which was a little bit surprising just considering the conditions that we’ve had I also think you you see a more user friendly TPC saw there’s some rough collars that have been built up kind of shielding the players from from

Any potential uh penalties on on 17 it seems like the collar’s a little bit thicker uh right before you get to the bulkhead and dropping into the water on 12 that’s another hole where if you miss left you could potentially run it in the water as well it just seems a little bit

More user friendly a little bit more receptive than perhaps we would have hoped for I I’m I’m very Rex encouraged heartened by this leaderboard we’ve we’ve spent a lot of time on this podcast over the past couple of months kind of L menting the fact that that the

Best players have not performed well in in the biggest events on the biggest stages and right now we have wendam Clark who’s really proven himself over the past 10 or 11 months to be a to be a prime time player the reigning US Open Champion was in the mix again last week

At Bay Hill and Scotty sheff I walked the back nine with Scotty that’s just about the easiest 67 that you could possibly imagine did not do anything particularly spectacular and yet you look up and he’s five under par just two shots back I saw nothing from Scotty in

The opening round to think uh that that this would this would not be his title to defend I did want to ask you because you were out walking and you asked an interesting question I was in scoring so there’s no TVs I didn’t see what he did

On 18 but you I think the question that you ask is when when the mere mortals like us look at the shot that the approach shot that you had on 18 all we see is is don’t go here don’t go there obviously is danger thing things that

Are going to hurt you things that are gonna ruin a really really good round he pulled off an amazing shot from under the tree what did you see yeah I mean that’s that’s exactly what I saw and I I was struck by the fact this guy shler

Essentially did not miss a shot for three or four hours prior to that he he made one bogey on the opening hole when he missed a five-footer and you you may have thought oh God here we here we go again with that but he played uh near flawlessly for the remainder of the

Round but his he flared his three-wood into the into the right trees and it was a really thick patch of grass he had an overhanging Limb and obviously the water left if you and I have played a lot of bad golf over the years when you try and

Hit sort of a punch shot you can flip it at the bottom and send that thing straight left and it’s the 18th hole at TVC sress is such a a challenging hole because the Fairway slopes dramatically from right to left and to see the shot that Scotty pulled off he kind of

Downplayed it uh in in his in the media flash area but like he played it he he clipped it perfectly uh he he clearly caught it well uh underneath the branch kind of cut it again against the right to left Fairway on a shot that was pretty dangerous so he starts at left

And cuts it back it ended up finishing the ball finished really close to the house line but it was never in serious danger and of course Sky did what sky does while chipping it to five feet and then making the pars saer to cap his 67

But I think in talking to his swing coach Randy Smith uh after the round it can get monotonous what Scotty sheffler does where he’s missing just two Fairways he’s essentially hitting it to inside 25 ft every single shot with his approach play but anytime it it it it waivers from kind of

That that that steady Scotty sheffler that activates something in his brain where some where where something clicks on and he delves into the creative side of of of his game that’s actually really spectacular to watch I I find Scotty I know I I don’t think he necessarily

Resonates well with fans but I think if you were going to attend players Championship Scotty sheff would be 1B to go who you want to go watch Roy M’s driving is spectacular I would highly encourage everyone to see it in person for themselves but seeing the the shot

Quality of a Scotty sheffler is remarkable in person the high hands the footwork the left to right the right to left the high low he can do everything and especially when you get him out of position uh he’s got that creative imagination as well well and I think we

Just had this conversation last night just about the idea that he he can get in that mode that he got in on Sunday at at Bay Hill where he’s only hitting Fairways he’s only hitting greens that that particular day he’s making putts and it can almost become monotonous

Because he almost comes across as a machine but to your point he doesn’t have to hit those shots would he hit on 18 very often but when he has to it’s amazing you’re right I was taken by how quickly and effortlessly he downplayed that shot on 18 his line to you was yeah

It was never going to go left with the shot I was trying to hit and I could think of this is going to go left and that’s a level of confidence with a shot that you and I clearly don’t possess I don’t think many people on in the

Universe possess that kind of shot so I it does speak to the confidence and I don’t think we can gloss over or skip past the idea that he gained almost a full stroke on the field today on the greens and the narrative going into last week was when Scotty gonna figure out

His putting how much longer is this going to last he figured it out on Sunday one by five strokes but even coming out of that it was well can he sustain this look he didn’t gain four and a half Strokes on the field like he

Did on Sunday at Bay Hill but gaining a full stroke today given how well he hit the ball and the fact that he didn’t have to scramble a whole heck of a lot I think that in as much as just like Roy maroy should send alarm bells to

Everyone yeah if Bay Hill was not the aberration if he actually has found a Putter and found this new routine by not lining up the ball uh and if the changes with the setup that he’s been working with Phil Kenyan are taking hold Man scary Scot rip off easily four to six

Wins by the time the Tour Championship rolls around in late August Rex before we get out of here real quick what’s one thing you’re most curious to see unfold Friday at the Players well I I’m curious Scotty goes out early he’s in the early wave I’m probably gonna go out and try

To walk with him you and I got an early hit but after that I was going to go out and walk I want to see if the putting holds up like to to the point that I just made everyone’s going to be watching this is the crucial part of the

Game Scotty Sheffer is going to go based on how his putter goes and if he if he continues to do what he did today which was a little bit above average it wasn’t great like it was on Sunday but it was a little bit above average it’s going to

Be so hard to beat and the other half of this equation is I mean this is really the first big event where everything has coalesced last week you had the world number one winning that was fantastic but five Strokes kind of took the air out of it right now as you pointed out

The leaderboard is stacked and I think we talked about this earlier in the week when we did the preview podcast the tour needed the good one this week they needed to have the stars come out and so far you’ve got Xander you’ve got Rory you’ve got Windam Clark you’ve got

Scotty can they maintain this because this is exactly what they need at this moment in town yeah I’m with the conditions certainly appear to be ripe for a weekend shootout for me rex that story is is Victor havland the reigning FedEx Cup champion has been awfully quiet has done virtually nothing for the

First three months of the Season uh live from I thought did a great breakdown of him with all these Contraptions all these gadgets really working hard Monday Tuesday Wednesday with his new swing coach Grant Wade he cycled through swing coaches in his young career but this one seemed particularly curious how Joe Mayo

Took him to FedEx Cup champion playing the best golf of anyone in the world abandoned that method and now it it seems like he’s back at square one with his chipping his ball striking is a mess he’s out to the top 100 here in approach

And I think that’s you know a lot of the frustration I don’t think it was necessarily the the Roy MC drop Incident That’s caused Victor to storm out of here it’s the fact that he has is has had it with this sort of Play Over the first three months I think examining

That is a good story for me to dive into sneak preview for nbcsports.com golf no that’ll be good and and I think we did a we did a good job last night on live from sort of breaking down exactly what you just sort of outline like he decided

To go on this new path and there’s footage of him on the range with Grant weight yesterday where clearly they’re having disagreements and there’s things are not going well it’s a lot of Animation it’s a lot like you when you’re on TV especially without a microphone and your hands are moving and

You’re moving all over trying to chase you with the microphone it’s not easy but he’s so talented like I’m sure there’s a level of aggravation now it’s hard for me to believe based on what he did at the end of last year there was no one in the game who was playing golf

Better than him at the moment I I find it impossible to believe that whatever transpired between the Tour Championship last year and the start of this season that somehow everything dropped away like I I’m going to have to see that for a long time before I truly believe it

There’s a difference between curi it and self-destruction and that’s a path that I look forward to digging into testing out line you’re testing out lines for your column aren’t you at the Players Championship Rex you have a hit to do thus the shirt and tie sorry to disappoint the uh many YouTube

Commenters uh on Wednesday who were very impressed with how Dapper we looked I’m just in the lowly golf rers scbe after transitioning out of my suit and tie as well for our early life from I’m not invited for good reason into the evening uh live from Rex I know you’ve got a hit

To do are you going to be talking about uh we’re going to touch on Scotty shuffler and a lot of things that we probably talked about just now myself and and Todd Lewis and just the idea I I I was taken by he finishes up Sunday night at Bay Hill I think the

Celebration was a hamburger and some soda with his family because that that’s Scotty sparkling sparkling water sparkling water thank you uh I I think that’s everything you need to know about how do you say I’m Scotty Sheffer without saying I’m Scotty sheffler that’s my celebration that’s exactly

What it is and his big you know his big relief on Monday morning was getting coffee and breakfast with his wife and then he was right back at it on Monday afternoon and I think it speaks to the Grind like I always I always kind of cringe when someone says well yeah he’s

Just a naturally gifted yeah they’re all touched by the hand of God but they all have to work really really hard and this is an example of a worldclass player who just came off a brilliant performance on a really really difficult golf course and he was out here grinding because he

Was H unhappy with some of the shots he hit on Sunday at Bay Hill no Bogies nothing but birdies wins by five and he was unhappy that’s probably why you get to world number one folks you can catch that and more for Rex’s bad 90 seconds of Television

Coming right up that Golf Channel I’m sure that will be that was good I’m sure that will be cut and trimmed and slapped all over NBC sports.com golf you guys know the drill head there for all of your players championship needs we’ll be back again 24 hours from now to recap

The second round uh from TPC Saw Grass as always we appreciate the support thanks as always for listening make sure you check out Golf Channel for everything else see you guys in 24 hours