RORY CLOSE BUT STILL SO FAR AWAY...
Upbeat Woods insistent he can win again this summer
RORY McILROY concluded with a round of 70 at the Players Championship at Sawgrass last night, assuring himself of a high finish but not a first victory at the PGA Tour’s flagship event.
Once more, the front nine proved an unfathomable mystery to the world No1, as he failed to break the par of 36 for the fourth round in a row. However, he birdied the 11th and the 12th and was staring down a seven foot putt at the 13th for a third consecutive birdie which, if he’d made it, might have provided the impetus for a winning number. But it slipped by, as so many such putts did last week.
‘It was certainly another solid week but I just didn’t make enough putts inside 15 foot,’ he said afterwards.
RORY McILROY briefly threatened to win his second US tour ti tl e in s even days l ast night, but his final round at the Players Championship never got beyond first gear.
McIlroy started the day four shots off the lead and realistic about his hopes. ‘I’m going to need something pretty special, a 64 or 65, to have a chance,’ said the world No1, who ended with a 70 as he chased back-to-back wins after last week’s victory in the WGC Match Play.
‘I’ve given myself a lot of chances and really could not convert much — I’ve struggled to read the greens all week.’
There was no legibility issues when the Irishman curled in a 26 foot putt to birdie the second, but he slipped back when he bogeyed the par four fifth.
McIlroy failed to break the par of 36 for the outward half for the fourth day in a row but slipped into the top 10 after putting back-toback birdies together on 11 and 12 to lie three behind Sergio Garcia.
A wonderful shot to the 13th left him with a seven footer for a third straight birdie but the putt refused to drop. The 16th had yielded him birdies earlier in the tournament but he found the sand and could only make par as holes ran out.
Rickie Fowler made all the running on the back nine, with a remarkable run which saw him play the final six holes in six under par.
Meanwhile, a remarkably upbeat Tiger Woods predicted a return to winning ways this summer, which was quite something after rounding off his week with a triple of career lows.
A day after recording two double bogeys on par fives in the same round for the first time, the 39-year- old racked up his first-ever triple bogey at Sawgrass. It came at the par four 14th on his 1,058th hole at the Players.
It was his fifth dou- ble bogey or worse during the tournament, which equalled another career worst on the Tour. He signed for a 72 for tied 69th place – his worst ever finish in 16 appearances in the PGA Tour’s flagship event.
What then, could possibly have justified the following verdict: ‘I played some really good stuff out there and it’s going to pay dividend in the end. Can I see myself contending and winning sometime this year? Absolutely.’
One reason for the optimism was because he finished a gruelling 72 holes feeling strong and healthy. Allied with his top 20 showing at the Masters, it was the first time in 18 months that he had completed 72 holes in consecutive tournaments. ‘Physically I feel good and it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to say that,’ he said. ‘For a long time I couldn’t practice after a round because my back was so bad but I’m able to do that now, which is huge when you’re trying to bed down some swing changes. I ’ m making progress. I felt a lot more comfortable over the ball here than I did at Augusta.’
Woods managed 18 birdies during the week, and when you think third round leader Chris Kirk had got there on the back of 14 birdies over 54 holes, it showed there is nothing wrong with Tiger’s good golf.
‘Three sevens during the week is obviously not good but I do think the mistakes will get cleaned up over time,’ he insisted. ‘This is one of those courses that exposes any weaknesses. You can be going fine and then all of a sudden it’s l i ke, “what’s j ust happened?”’
Next weekend Woods will oversee his annual music festival, the Tiger Jam before turning attention to the US Open, staged on new course Chambers Bay, near Seattle.
At the top of the leaderboard, with 30 players separated by just five shots at the start of play it needed someone to sprinkle a round with birdies to emerge from the peloton. The pace was set by Garcia (pictured), who was so disgruntled with his putting on Friday he binned his putter before discovering a replacement that was anything but rubbish. The Spaniard birdied four out of five from the second for two clear at the turn.
Padraig Harrington birded the third, fourth and sixth to set up a 67 which gave him a top 50 finish. Graeme McDowell also staged a rally, with birdies on three of the first eight holes, but bogey sixes on the ninth and 16th ruined his card.