Rory McIlroy reminds us he’s the best show in golf at The Players Championship

There is nothing better in golf right now than a Rory McIlroy run. Tiger Woods is on the other side of 40 and not on Tour at the moment. But a birdie streak and hot round from Tiger is about the only thing that could eclipse watching Rory put it all together and suck in everyone who has a casual interest in this game.

McIlroy did just that on Friday morning at a course where he’s not real comfortable and that mitigates his enormous distance advantage off the tee. Whatever has happened over the intervening year since he lost his perch at No. 1, Rory, even though it may be in hibernation at times, is still the most awesomely talented golfer in the world. He is a force.

From the very start on Friday, he made it clear we were in for a show and the alarms on Twitter and elsewhere went off early. McIlroy started with four straight birdies, going off the on the back nine at TPC Sawgrass, the side of the course that he has lit up throughout his career.

The fourth birdie in the opening streak was the result of a perfect tee shot on the par-3 13th that sucked back inside three feet for the tap-in. Rory had us from there.

Three holes later the #59Watch came into to play when McIlroy bombed in an eagle putt to get to 7-under through his first seven holes!

There really weren’t enough hyperbolic ways to describe the opening stretch. He carved up this Stadium Course. Burned it to the ground. Napalmed ... you get the idea, we were losing our minds. He should have backed up that eagle with another birdie but his putt at the island 17th green came up just short of the cup so he settled for a par. When the opening nine was all over, he had just 29 strokes on the card -- matching the record set just a day prior by fellow Irishman Shane Lowry.

That new record was nice, but the front nine is the real challenge for McIlroy. It’s a testament to his awesome talent that he’s posted three straight top 10s at The Players using only half the course to pile up birdies to get in contention. But in this round, he avoided the big number, added two more birdies and came to the par-5 9th, his last hole of the day, needing only a birdie to set a new course record.

Then the frustrating Rory, the one who shoots 40 on one side at the Masters and still finishes inside the top 10, showed up and booted his chance at the course record. McIlroy should torch these par-5s, even if they do take some of his length off the tee out of play. Instead of blasting driver, like his big-hitting playing partner Dustin Johnson, McIlroy went with a 3-wood and then a short iron to lay up 90 yards or so from the green.

Just 90 yards. Then Rory decided to fat a wedge short of the green, stub a chip shot, and two-putt for bogey. It was inexcusable yet so in line with some of the squandered chances we’ve seen out of McIlroy recently. At worst, he was matching the course record with a basic par on what should be an easy par-5 for the bomber. The bogey made it an 8-under 64, one shy of the record but good enough to move 77 spots up the leaderboard into 6th place before the afternoon wave gets going.

This is what we get with Rory. The streaks that almost no one else could put together, even on courses he doesn’t love. And then the subpar wedge play that duffs so many of the chances that the rest of his world-class game sets up and makes us swoon. Setting aside the finish, it was delightful to have Rory lighting it up again at something that approximates a major in golf. It’s the best show in the game.