McIlroy: I let the greens get into my head
RORY McIlroy wasn’t too downhearted after he missed the 54hole cut at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
The 28-year-old had a fiveputt on his Friday round to card a disappointing 74 and followed up with a par 72 to go one-under for the tournament in California, leaving him two shots shy of qualifying for yesterday’s final round.
‘Honestly, I’m fine, because my ball-striking was really good for the three days,’ said McIlroy. ‘I just left too many shots out there. I have to learn to trust my lines, especially on these poa annua greens.
‘I have a little bit of work to do in that regard, but I’m really looking forward to Riviera [this week]. I love that golf course, and I expect some better results.’
McIlroy admitted that the greens ‘got in my head’ after Friday’s 38 putts at Monterey Peninsula Country Club. He had 90 putts in all over three rounds.
‘I hit the ball well. I hit the ball well at Spyglass, and I scored well. I missed two greens yesterday, only missed one fairway, and I shot three over. So that wasn’t too good on the greens,’ said the world No 8 after Saturday’s round.
‘Today, I hit some really good shots and, yeah, I just need a few putts to fall, and I think sometimes with these poa annua greens you start to get a little bit tentative with them and it just gets away from you.
‘So I let the greens yesterday get into my head a little bit, and it was hard to get out of that mindset.’
McIlroy’s pro-am partner during his first appearance at the tournament was his father Gerry.
‘I wish I could have played a little bit better for him and that we’d have both been around to play the final round but it was a really cool few days,’ he added.
Shane Lowry was the only Irishman to make the cut, with Paul Dunne (+5), Pádraig Harrington (+7), Seamus Power ( +7) and Graeme McDowell (+10) all enduring weeks to forget.
Lowry shot 67, 73, 68 for a seven-under total to make it to Sunday, when he finished up with a 74.
Ted Potter Junior’s 62 on Saturday put him into the lead with Dustin Johnson as they teed off yesterday and he was three clear of fellow American Chez Reavie yesterday evening.
Potter — ranked No 246 in the world — hasn’t claimed a victory since the 2012 Greenbrier Classic, and before this weekend the 34-year-old had never posted a round lower than 64.
If Potter holds out, he is set to pocket $1,332,000 — more than his entire current career earnings of $174,517.
At the World Super 6 in Perth, Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat secured a fourth European Tour title after beating James Nitties 2&1.
Aphibarnrat claimed the last of the 24 spots in the Super 6 via a play-off and then had to come through five rounds of match play yesterday.
He overcame Ben Eccles, Yusaku Miyazato, Sean Crocker and Lucas Herbert before triumphing over Nitties.
The 28-year-old had cancelled a holiday to the Maldives to play in Perth, a wise decision given he picked up a cheque for AUD$283,330 — around €180,000 — for winning the event.