Despite losing 10 pounds because of a recent bout with food poisoning, Rory McIlroy climbed out of bed and shot a 4-under 68 Thursday in the opening round of the WGC-HSBC Champions.
The world No. 3 was uncertain to play this week’s event after becoming ill on Tuesday. He missed both a pre-tournament photo shoot with the other stars and Wednesday’s pro-am.
“I can’t remember the last time I was this light,” McIlroy told reporters after his round. “Looking forward to a good dinner tonight – hopefully it will stay inside my body.”
On a perfect day for scoring at Sheshan International, McIlroy, who is coming off a T-6 at the Turkish Airlines Open, carded six birdies and sits five shots back of leader Branden Grace.
“It’s probably a little bit better than I was exciting out there, to be honest,” he said. “One of the hardest things was I had been in bed for basically two days, so whenever I got on to the range, I was stiff. Really, really stiff. So had to loosen up quite well. I still feel a little stiff, actually.”