The world No 2 played a round that matched the weather and his outfit – grey and nondescript – carding a level-par 70 in showery conditions to find himself five shots behind rookie Ryan Gerard and Argentina’s Alejandro Tosti. “A little pedestrian, I guess, is a good way to describe it,” said McIlroy, who struggled occasionally with his iron play and lost 1.77 shots to the field on the greens. “We had to deal with those conditions early on; it was rainy and not too pleasant to play in. “I made a few par saves early on that I needed to, and then I had quite a few chances on the second nine that I didn’t convert. “So it was sort of a tale of two halves. I felt like I was scrambling for the most part on the first nine, and then I feel like I left a couple out there on the last nine.” The world No 2 started at the 10th and had to make a 12-footer for par at the 11th and a seven-footer at the 12th after iron shots sailed left. He then dropped a shot at the 14th, missing from eight feet for par after overshooting the green. But as the rain eased and the umbrellas came down, he created more chances but failed to make anything happen from mid-range with the putter. “I drove it better once I got my gear on,” he said. “I couldn’t really find the middle of the clubface for the first few holes. But once it brightened up and once the conditions got a little better, I felt like I drove it pretty well.” He might have birdied the short par-four 17th after firing a short iron to five feet, but he misread the birdie putt there and missed again from 10 feet for birdie at the second before he finally two-putted for his birdie four at the long third. He’d hand that shot straight back at the fourth after failing to hit the green with an iron, but made amends by almost chipping in for an eagle three at the eighth. McIlroy has not had to tee off in driving rain very often in recent years, but dealt with it well and was unfazed by his first-round score, bar his tally of 30 putts. “It’s been a while,” he said. “Think we had a massive downpour one year at the Tour Championship in Atlanta. I remember teeing off there, but yeah, that was pretty heavy.” It’s McIlroy’s first visit to the venue, and while he admitted that his lack of course knowledge had its advantages and disadvantages, he was happy to learn on the fly. “It’s a double-edged sword,” he said. “It’s always nice to come to places that you don’t know, and having to learn a new golf course, I don’t do it all that often anymore, so it’s nice to be able to do it again. “But then there are inbuilt advantages to going back to a course for a lot of years, and just knowing where to miss and where not to, especially on a course like this, where you have to know the green complexes and where the misses are. “I think a little bit of experience around this course isn’t a bad thing, and I’m just trying to learn as I go along.” Rookie Gerard (25) got to seven-under after 16 holes but bogeyed the eighth and ninth to share the early lead with big-hitting Tosti. On the DP World Tour, Conor Purcell fell victim to the demanding DLF Golf and Country Club in the Hero Indian Open in New Delhi. He made five birdies, including two in his first four holes, but four bogeys and two double-bogeys, the last of them at his 18th, added up to a three-over 75 that left him tied for 80th. He was seven shots behind Nicolas Colsaerts, Marcus Armitage and Marcus Kinhult, whose 68s gave them a one-shot lead over a six-man chasing group. “The rough is high this year, the greens are firmer and it’s a little bit like a mini US Open,” a delighted Colsaerts (42) said after a seven-birdie round. Meanwhile, Leona Maguire fought back from two-over after six holes to open with a two-under 70 and trail Charley Hull by seven shots in the Ford Championship in Arizona. Hull made nine birdies in a bogey-free 63 at Whirlwind’s Cattail Course in Chandler to lead by a shot in the clubhouse from Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen. One-under after two holes, the Co Cavan star (29) double-bogeyed the short third and bogeyed the sixth before following a hat-trick of birdies from the 11th with another at the par-five 17th. Indian Open, 7.30am Houston Open, 12.30pm Ford Championship, 11pm (All Sky Sports)