World number one Rory McIlroy has admitted that he was feeling the effects of jet-lag in the opening round of his Australian Open title defence.
The 25-year-old carded four birdies and two bogeys in Sydney earlier today to end play two shots behind leader Jordan Spieth on two-under 69.
McIlroy revealed afterwards that he is still adjusting to the change of time zone, declaring that he has far more to offer in the coming days.
"It took me a little while to get going," Sky Sports News quotes the Northern Irishman as saying. "I gave myself a lot of chances early on in the round and didn't really take them. The conditions were pretty tricky.
"It was tough to get the ball close to the pins with the wind and these greens being quite firm as well. I thought anything under par today was a decent score and it was nice to birdie the last and shoot something in the 60s. It puts me right there going into tomorrow.
"Golf tournaments are long, all you want to do is give yourself a chance going into Sunday. I definitely feel like there's a better score out there."
Play resumes at the Australian Golf Club in the early hours of tomorrow morning.
Daniel Lewis
