SAN FRANCISCO –– The WGC-Cadillac Match Play hasn’t been overly kind to world No. 1 Rory McIlroy, who made exits in the first and second rounds, respectively, the past two years. So if there was a term to describe his opening-round effort late Wednesday afternoon against Jason Dufner at TPC Harding Park, it would be this: workmanlike.
He did everything but bring a lunch pail, hard hat and thermos. With Dufner struggling direly to find his game, McIlroy shifted into basic fairways-and-greens mode, and the 13 pars that followed his lone birdie were plenty enough to lead him to a breezy, 5-and-4 victory.