RORS GOES OFF ROAD

Rory McIlroy saw his second shot sail toward the gallery, so he knew it would be right of the green on the par5 10th hole at Quail Hollow.

He just never imagined it would be 100 yards away. Or that he would be playing on a different hole.

Unfortunately for him, the ball hit a cart path. Worse yet, the path headed down a steep slope toward the 11th fairway. By the time it finished bouncing, McIlroy had to drop the ball in a patch of thick grass so far down the hill that he had to get creative with his escape.

“It was really the only option I had,” McIlroy said. “I dropped it in a pretty bad lie, so I couldn’t carry it over the cart path. So I hit a 6-iron. Just said, ‘OK, I’ll bounce it up the cart path and see where this goes.”’

He punched the 6-iron and it skipped twice along the cement path with so much speed that it went into the bunker, out of the bunker, onto the green and across the green until it settled in the light rough on the other side. He chipped down to a foot and tapped it in for his par. Simple. —AP