CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ Rory McIlroy turns 29 Friday and would like to be granted a simple wish. When I asked him what his birthday plans would be, he said: "Hopefully, go out and shoot a 62."
For most people, this would be a throwaway line that everyone knows has no chance of happening _ sort of like saying you were going to climb Mount Everest on your birthday. For McIlroy, though, it is quite possible.
McIlroy shot a final-round 62 to win his first Wells Fargo Championship in 2010. Then he shot a 61 _ bettering his course record _ in 2015 on the way to his second victory in the tournament.
On Thursday, McIlroy had a relatively low-profile 68, putting him on the leader board but not at the top of it after a single round. He was happy with the score, though, given an uneven performance the day before in practice.
"I would have taken 68 before I went out there," McIlroy said after his round. "My game felt a little bit rusty in the pro-am yesterday and I didn't play that well. ... (Today) I hit the ball much better, drove it much better, and the course is a little easier than it was last August in the PGA. Even if you don't hit it quite so well, you can still get away with it most times."
The last time the golfing world saw McIlroy he was playing in the final group at the Masters in April, trying to complete the career Grand Slam. Instead, McIlroy never could catch Patrick Reed and shot a final-round 74, betrayed by a recalcitrant putter.
This is the first time McIlroy has played since that disappointment, which took awhile to get over. What did he do?
"I went back home and sort of decompressed," McIlroy said. "Binge-watched a couple of shows. Read a couple of books. Drank a few bottles of wine."
