Faltering Rory has to step up
European success so far cannot hide fears over form of Bjorn’s ‘banker’
RILED by a heckler who dared suggest he was rather ineffective on the greens, Rory McIlroy delivered quite the response here yesterday.
First came the 10ft putt that secured a birdie and so protected a two-hole lead, and then a few words for the golf fan who had managed to get under his skin. ‘Who can’t putt? I can’t putt?’ McIlroy bristled before dropping the F-bomb as he marched off to the fourth tee.
His defiance was slightly undermined, however, by what then followed; a drive that flew so far right that commentator Wayne Riley suggested the Ulsterman hadn’t just missed the spectators that lined the fairway but planet ‘Earth’.
After Ian Poulter had hit a provisional and then been ordered to return to the tee when McIlroy’s ball was eventually found, the European duo took as even, enabling Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas to halve the deficit and turn their foursomes match on its head. The Americans took the next two holes to surge into a one-hole lead, with further problems for McIlroy and his putter enabling them to then double their advantage on the eighth.
This Ryder Cup has been something of a battle for McIlroy. He was the only player to fail in winning a single hole or sinking a single birdie in that first morning session on Friday and he played so poorly there was a clamour for his omission on Friday afternoon.
Thomas Bjorn stuck by him, and after witnessing his demolition of Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson in tandem with Poulter in the foursomes that afternoon Europe’s captain felt fully vindicated. ‘Great players have the ability to put things right after playing badly,’ said Bjorn. ‘I never have any doubt in Rory McIlroy.’
Here in Paris certain doubts nevertheless persist, McIlroy clearly experiencing the same difficulties being endured by the other big-hitters who play the majority of their golf in the US.
There were moments when he rediscovered his killer instinct yesterday morning, four birdies in the opening eight holes enabling McIlroy and Sergio Garcia to secure a commanding lead in a thrilling contest with Tony Finau and Brooks Koepka. And after Garcia had seen off a late fightback by the Americans with that marvellous putt on 17, McIlroy was buzzing. He spoke of Garcia’s ‘infectious fire and passion’. ‘It rubs off on me pretty well,’ he declared.
But there was cause for concern too, not least the two McIlroy put in the water and one out of bounds.
It was not enough to force Bjorn into a rethink, McIlroy joining the remarkable Moliwood duo in being the only other European player to participate in the first four sessions. And the decision to reunite McIlroy and Poulter for the foursomes when they had combined so impressively the previous afternoon still seemed like a sensible move.
But McIlroy was wired to the point where he seemed to lose composure, that wild drive actually something of a turning point in the match and a mistake that led to further difficulties.
The Europeans did not make another birdie until the par five 14th, their only cause for any further celebration the moment when Thomas missed a short putt that cost the otherwise formidable American pairing a win on the ninth. McIlroy had another 10ft putt for victory on the 10th but saw his effort lip out, a miss that would prove all more costly when Thomas and Spieth then holed birdie putts on 11 and 13 to go four up before finishing the job with three holes to spare.
Europe’s pain was eased, of course, by the roars that had already been heard elsewhere; the deafening response to the decisive putts that handed victory to Francesco Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson.
They are victories that provide Europe with that four-point cushion, but if Bjorn arrived at Le Golf National thinking McIlroy would be one of his bankers come Sunday the first two days must have eroded some of that confidence. ‘Rory’s now got to step up,’ said Sir Nick Faldo afterwards.
Faldo would no doubt agree that you write off Rory at your peril. He could come out today in possession of his A game and end up celebrating a third precious point from the five he would, by then, have contested.
But that is what now needs to happen here. After four cracks at this golf course over the last two days, McIlroy will be looking to demonstrate that he has finally mastered it when he leads Europe out this morning in the singles against Thomas.