There’s no Hollywood ending as Rory bid hits the rocks
By the time he reached the 16th tee in the final round of the Genesis Invitational yesterday, the chances of a hollywood ending to Rory McIlroy’s first week back as world No 1 had entered the far-fetched realms of a
Mission: Impossible movie.
the man from the other holywood was enduring a final round filled with torment as too many bad swings and a couple of unlucky breaks all but derailed his hopes.
the Northern Irishman tried manfully to repair the damage of a triple bogey early in his round, but this was not a day to play catch-up on a Riviera course playing US Open-tough, as the greens dried out at the end of a tournament played under unbroken blue skies.
Instead it was sweet-swinging Australian Adam Scott who recovered from an early double bogey of his own to establish a one- shot lead over America’s Scott Brown and Korean Sung Kang.
Scott rates Riviera as the best on the circuit and the love was being returned as he closed in on his first win in almost four years. McIlroy, by way of contrast, was three over par for his round and three shots adrift in a tie for ninth place.
For a game so often played at a snail’s pace, it’s amazing how swiftly things can change. For 58 holes spread over four days, nothing happened to alter the perception that McIlroy was on course to celebrate his newlyregained No 1 status with a statement victory. then, in the space of 20 shocking minutes or so, he went from being tied at the top to falling off the first page of the leaderboard.
All week, he had rightly highlighted the dramatic improvement in his course management, only to undo much of the good work with a desperate strategic error at the par-four fifth.
the one place you cannot be after two blows is down the steep bank at the back of the green, as McIlroy and playing partner Scott ( above) would show. Neither would be on the green after three shots, either, as the Aussie went on to make a six.
A still worse fate befell McIlroy, as he three-putted for a triple. you might have to go back to the first hole at the Open at Royal Portrush last July to find the last time he had one of those. A bogey at the sixth, and the Northern Irishman had fallen out of the top 10.
It’s a good job the 30-year- old has an equable temperament, for he was certainly tested by fate over the next three holes. On the seventh, his approach shot looked as if it would finish close to the flag, but cannoned into the ball of Scott, who had already played.
At the eighth, he pounded a risky drive down the middle of a tight fairway only to end up in a divot in a part of the landing area where there were barely any. Just to complete the picture, his birdie putt following two fine shots to the ninth horseshoed out. When he missed from eight feet for a birdie at the 10th, the frustration was plain, as he punched the flagstick.
By the time he got to the 11th tee, he was back on an even keel, pounding another perfect drive to finally set up a birdie. But he couldn’t build on it in the holes that followed, bogeying the difficult 13th.
Just as he did in the first round, tournament host tiger Woods eagled the opening hole. Sadly for him, there are 17 other holes that he didn’t play anywhere near as well.
A week that began with a wonderful front nine of 31 shots had long since unravelled by the time he completed his tournament over the same stretch yesterday, as he followed his 76 on Saturday with a 77 to finish dead last of the 68 players who made the cut.
Needless to say, with a little over seven weeks to go to the defence of his Masters title, there is plenty of work to do both on his worrisome stiff back and his game.