RORY McIlroy ultimately endured a disappointing opening round at The Masters - but it was nearly much worse both for him and also a turtle. On the 16th hole of Thursday's 72 he pulled off a shot that skipped along the water...and over the resting reptile. It drew an exhilarated response from the watching galleries - especially once it became the clear the turtle wasn't going to be hit. Online there was plenty of reaction too. Golf journalist Dylan Deither quipped: "Rory killing a turtle would have been a VERY tough start to Masters Week. Bullet dodged here." Adding to that, Owen Baker repeated the golfing mantra of "Aim small, hit big." Finally, someone else wittily joked: "No one likes slow play." Unfortunately on the hole prior as well as the one after, McIlroy suffered another mini-Masters meltdown. And after snapping at leader Justin Rose’s heels for a while, he already finds himself playing catch-up, seven shots back. Rose became a Masters record-breaker, as a blistering first round 65 took him clear of Jack Nicklaus as the greatest front-runner Augusta has ever seen. Before this sensational seven under par effort Rose was tied with six-time champion Nicklaus for the most first round leads at the Masters - four apiece. But the English golfer made the record all his own, as he equalled his best score in 71 outings at Augusta, a the 65 that gave him the outright lead after day one of the 2021 Masters. It looked like being a shot better until he slipped to his only bogey of the day at the 18th. But it still provided a massive boost to his hopes of improving on his second place finishes in 2015 and 2017, when he was edged out in a play-off by Sergio Garcia. And Rose’s disappointment at his only blip was nothing compared to the look of horror that settled on McIlroy’s face, as his own charge towards the top of the leaderboard sank into the lake guarding the 15th green. At four under par with four holes to play, McIlroy was still in with a chance of overhauling his Ryder Cup teammate, and snatching the first round lead. WATER WRECKED Those hopes were still alive as the world No 2 hit his second shot over the green at the long 15th, leaving a decent shot at an up and down for birdie. But he made a real mess of his chip, sending it scuttling through the green and into the water. McIlroy shot pained glances at his club and the turf he had just hit from. But they were blameless. This was a pure case of human error. He was forced to cross the bridge bordering the 15th green to play another chip from the drop zone. That one was not much better, staying dry but settling more than thirty feet from the flag. It led to an excruciating double bogey. And after 14 holes without a hint of a bogey, McIlroy was clearly rattled. When he airmailed the green and followed up with another iffy chip, it resulted in a second double bogey. This was not quite on the scale of McIlroy’s infamous Masters disaster of 2011, when a final round 80 saw him blow a four shot lead. But it felt a bit like it at times over the closing holes. At level par he is still in with a squeak- just - although he needs to go low on day two to have a realistic chance.