NO LOVE ISLAND
Rory just can’t get in swing of things
RORY MCILROY admitted his revamped swing was not yet ready for the severe test of Kiawah Island after failing to break par in any round.
The Ulsterman won the 2012 USPGA by eight shots on the same Ocean Course for the second of his four Major crowns.
And the world No.7 arrived back in South Carolina as pretournament favourite after his recent victory at the Wells Fargo Championship.
But Mcilroy, who started working with new coach Pete Cowen before the Masters, said he “still has a way to go with everything” after bogeying his final hole for a closing level-par 72.
He finished on five-over par just as the leaders were teeing off and despite his local history, he claimed the longest course in Major history was not the place for a work-in-progress.
“I didn’t understand those high expectations,” said the four-time Major winner.
“It was good to get a win at Quail Hollow, a course that I’ve always played well on and am comfortable on. But I didn’t feel playing well here nine years ago was going to automatically make me play well again.
“And I felt like coming in here, there were still parts of my game that I needed to sharpen up, and obviously those parts were exposed this week.
“It’s different here. You go to somewhere like Quail Hollow or Memorial, you can hit bad shots and still go find your ball and play it and hit great recovery shots. Here is so penal that you can’t.
“I feel like you’ve got a little more freedom on those golf courses. It’s a trust and a freedom thing.
“At Quail Hollow, you can hit it in trees and get it out. You can’t really do that here. You see a hazard on one side and sixfoot-high on the other side, it’s hard to bail out anywhere. It was a good test this week to see where I was, and I still have a way to go.”
His rounds of 75-72-74-72 were 18 shots worse than nine years ago, where he shot 67 and 66 over the weekend.
The wind changed to a southwesterly yesterday but Mcilroy could still only play the four par5s in one-under for a cumulative score of two-over par on them for the week.
“The par-5s were a added. killer,” he