Swinging sixties but Rory’s out of rhythm
WHEN Rory McIlroy opined last September that the courses on the European Tour were too easy, little could he have guessed that nine months later he would be playing what has amounted to the pitch and putt swing on the PGA Tour. Three events since the lockdown, yielding eight scores in the sixties going into the final round of the Travelers Championship yesterday, would have been a satisfactory return on courses with the usual level of difficulty he faces in America. From the first two events, he barely made enough to pay for his private jet fuel. On Saturday, McIlroy bemoaned that he was still searching for the rhythm he had before the suspension, when he put together seven top-five finishes in a row. In private, he would be more worried if they were courses that fit his eye. For those who think the best player in the world should be able to compete on any course, look at the record of the man who will end his career with more PGA Tour victories than anyone else. Tiger Woods’s schedule barely changed from one year to the next, as he went almost exclusively to venues that were right in his wheelhouse. The 44-year-old is still doing it now. Woods is currently as fit as a fiddle but has not wasted any time pitching up to play, preferring to wait until things heat up next month. The good news for McIlroy is that, following a week off, he can look forward to a month on venues more conducive to his game. The first two will be played at Muirfield Village, the beauty of a course that Jack Nicklaus built in Ohio. The last two events are a World Golf Championship event in Memphis, where he lost out narrowly to Brooks Koepka last year, followed by the USPGA Championship at Harding Park in San Francisco, where he won the WGC-Match Play in 2015. If he completes that run without any top-five finishes, that is the time to fret. McIlroy began the final round yesterday eight shots behind the leader, American Brendon Todd. Given that four of the last 10 winners had come from at least six shots adrift with 18 holes to go, there was still a chance if he delivered a round similar to the 61 he shot to win the Canadian Open in
June last year.
A birdie at the first was ideal but two bogeys in the next three holes were mistakes he clearly could not afford. Thereafter it was all about pride and, with the chance to freewheel, he showed plenty, picking up five shots in nine holes. With five holes to go he had moved up to tied sixth before a holed bunker shot for birdie at the 16th took him three behind at 15 under. Todd, meanwhile, was trying to add veneer to his already remarkable story. Five years ago, the 34-year-old from Pittsburgh was so afflicted with the long-game yips he fell from the world’s top 50 to outside the top 2,000. His astonishing recovery has seen him win twice already this season, and clearly he has no trouble pulling the trigger these days. Over the first three rounds he hit, would you believe, 41 out of 42 fairways — and hit the first four yesterday as well. However, after parring the first eight holes, he was caught by Dustin Johnson on 18 under.