Australian Marcus Fraser continued his superb recent form on the European Tour to take a share of the first-round lead at the WGC – Cadillac Championship in Miami.
Fraser claimed a first European Tour win in six years at the Maybank Championship Malaysia 11 days ago and then travelled to his homeland and secured a tie for 15th at the ISPS HANDA Perth International before travelling to America for the season’s first World Golf Championships event.
Although he found water on his penultimate hole for his only bogey of the day, Fraser showed few signs of fatigue from his globetrotting, as he posted a six under par 66 to share the opening round lead with American Scott Piercy.
Phil Mickelson is one shot behind the leading pair after a round of 67, while Englishman Danny Willett leads Europe’s bid to land four consecutive WGC titles, posting a four under par 68 to sit two shots back in a share of fourth with American pair Charley Hoffman and Jason Dufner, and Australian Adam Scott.
Four-time Major Champion Rory McIlroy, using his new putting grip for the first time, featured at the top end of the leaderboard before a double bogey on the ninth hole – his last of the day – led to a double bogey and a one under par round of 71, with the Northern Irishman ending the day in a share of 16th position.
Key Player quotes
Marcus Fraser
“I felt like I had a lot of control over the ball. I had a couple of weak drives, but other than that, I felt like I really gave myself a chance on just about every hole, which obviously you need to do on this golf course. I’m probably one of the shortest hitters here, so I have to play the golf course fairly smartly.
“I’ve felt better (from the jetlag) but at the same time, I’ve been doing this for 14 years, flying all over the place. I’m used to it and I feel like I’ve got some good rest in. I felt like I was ready to go today.
“It’s obviously a great way to start, especially in a golf tournament like this and at a golf course as strong as this. I’ve obviously got a lot of confidence from today. My previous results at Doral haven’t been that great, but it is nice to get a good one early and hopefully build on that over the next few days.”
Danny Willett
“It was a good, solid day. It hit 16 greens and had 30 putts. You can’t really ask for much more around this golf course.
“I have started the season pretty good, finishing fourth down in Sun City (Nedbank Golf Challenge) and obviously winning in Dubai. It’s only my fifth tournament of the year so it is still early days, but it is nice to get a few good numbers on the board.”
Rory McIlroy
“I felt like I played pretty solid actually. Tee-to-green was pretty good. I made a couple of mistakes but apart from that, I felt like ball-striking-wise, it was a good day.
“It is always disappointing to end the way I did. I feel like I was struggling a little bit in right-to-left winds just trying to hold the ball up. I’m actually overdoing it a little bit, cutting it back a little too much back into the wind. I did it a couple of times last week at the Honda and did it again there on nine. So I’m going to try and work on that. And then my speed wasn’t too good on the greens. I was leaving a lot of putts short. But I guess to be expected. It’s the first day competitively with a bit of a new grip for the putting. But I felt like it was pretty good. I’m just disappointed about the finish. I just need to get out there tomorrow and try and pick up those shots quickly again and try to start from there.”
