Rory’s barren run is major headache
POOR PUTTING THREATENS HIS MASTERS BID
It is now almost 17 months since Rory Mcilroy last won a tournament and another barren week at the Genesis Open at Riviera means it is now officially the longest drought of his career.
Yes, even longer than when he turned pro in september 2007 at the age of 18, before going on to achieve his first win in Dubai in February 2009.
sure, you can sugarcoat it by pointing out all the time he missed during that period struggling with a rib injury,njury, but it is still a worryingly lengthy ngthy period. Mcilroy finished hed birdie-birdie for a finalround ald 68 yesterday and felt he played a lot better than a finishing position outside the leading prizes s suggests.
But if you were compiling ilon a half-time report on the road to Augusta, with four tournaments downown and four more to go before he pitches up at the Masters for his third tilt at a career Grand slam, you would have to say there is an awful lot of room for improvement.
true, the year began with so much promise, as he chalked up some remarkable statistics in finishing third in Abu Dhabi and runner-up in Dubai. it looked like the old Rory was back, with a real swagger in his stride. But some familiar shortcomings have emerged since crossing the Atlantic to play on the PGA tour.
A missed cut at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am was followed by some erratic play last week at what should have been a classic course for a man with Mcilroy’s shotmaking abilities.
the weather could hardly have been more co- operative, with barely a breeze to be felt all week, but every encouraging step forward seemed to be followed by a humbling one in the opposite direction. sadly, the abiding image for three rounds was of Mcilroy sighing heavily with a perplexed look on his face, after another missed putt, although he was much better on the greens yesterday.
‘Everything feels Ok, and i feel all aspects of my game are decent,’ said Mcilroy. ‘there’s a couple of areas i need to tighten up but i think that will happen with the more competitive golf i play.’
this week, the circus shifts 3,000 miles to Florida, and what is looking like a fairly critical week regarding Mcilroy’s Augusta preparations. Mcilroy won the Honda Classic at the age of 22 to become world No 1 for the first time, and he could do with a good week there to establish some momentum.
the fact is, Mcilroy has always been a streaky player, and it is hard to see him winning a green jacket unless he is heading to Georgia with a win under his belt, or at least a near thing or two.
He was a long way from that scenario yesterday — off early from the 10th tee, the fate of those with no chance of winning — although, as ever with Mcilroy, there were a few wondrous moments. At the par-five first, his second shot finished just three feet from the hole for a tap-in eagle. He finished with a flourish, too, with birdies on his final two holes.
As Mcilroy headed up the leaderboard and a backdoor top-20 finish, it was sad to see fellow Northern irishman Graeme McDowell heading in the opposite direction.
After 18 months featuring just one top-10 finish that saw him fall outside the world’s top 200, the 38-year-old began the final round just two shots behind the leader, Bubba Watson.
it was always asking an awful lot to go from zero to winning an event as prestigious as this one, but did the fall need to be so brutal? With two holes to go he was five over for the day — and alongside Mcilroy in a tie for 20th.
Watson, bidding for his first victory since winning this title for a second time in 2016, started slowly as well but that all changed with a dramatic stroke at the par-three 14th, where he holed a 20-yard bunker shot.
it gave him a two- stroke advantage over a quartet of fellow Americans, including local boy Patrick Cantlay, the gifted 24-year-old who was ranked outside the top 1,400 two years ago when beset by back problems, and is now inside the top 50.
At the age of 47, Phil Mickelson made a gutsy attempt to win his first title since the 2013 Open but bogeys at the 15th and 16th dropped him back to eight under — three behind Watson. He finished with a 68.