McIlroy has work to do
Rory’s cut adrift as putting woes show no sign of abating PHILIP QUINN
RORY MCILROY’S grey top and slacks matched the drab colour of his golf on a day when the home fires failed to burn. This was another grim shift on the coalface for him. His recurring putting problems may become a significant barrier ahead of the final two Majors of the season. After 32 on Thursday, he required 34 more yesterday in a round which saw just two single putts, one for bogey and one for birdie.
Those are the sort of stats that wouldn’t impress some club handicappers; for McIlroy, they are scary. In fairness, the lively greens of the Glashedy links, complete with their subtle nuances, bamboozled many as only a handful of players broke 70, and no one bettered the 68 of Swede Joakim Lagergren.
McIlroy certainly fell under their spell as he struggled with his reads and pace putting. Does he need help? Hell, no, he countered when asked on Wednesday. ‘I’ll sort of figure it out on my own.’
Well, he hasn’t figured it out yet and he stumbled to a 73, to fall seven shots behind co-leaders Kiwi Ryan Fox (69) Frenchman Matthieu Pavon (68) and South African Erik Van Rooyen who came in late with a stunning 65, a new course record.
He spoke afterwards about ‘positive signs’ and ‘moving forward’ but it doesn’t seem that way on ‘tricky’ greens where he ‘didn’t hole anything again.’
Some observers will feel it’s time to pick up the ’phone and call the experts who’ve helped him with putting before; Paul Hurrion, Dave Stockton, Phil Kenyon and Brad Faxon. Or maybe he should ask his bagman buddy, Harry Diamond, for a dig out.
McIlroy, though, who likes to reason things out for himself and is not accustomed to being told what to do. He can also argue that the man holding his putter in 2018 is as much Dr Jekyll one week as he is Mr. Hyde the next.
While he lies 110th in strokes gained putting on the PGA Tour, his putting average in Europe heasing into this week was 28.39, his lowest of his career so far.
McIlroy was second only to Patrick Reed in the putting stakes at Augusta in April and he topped the table at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, which he won. In contrast, he was rock bottom in the Travelers Championship last month, and is among the tail-enders here in Ballyliffin.
Right now, it will require something special to turn things around if he’s to contend over the weekend. He was never likely to give himself as many looks at birdies yesterday as he did on Thursday when he had a wedge in his hand for nine of 18 approach shots.
While his driving was decent, he erred at crucial moments, such as the par five 13th and again down the stretch, on the eighth and ninth, which led to late bogeys as he fell back from three under to one.
There was a lip out on nine, akin to one earlier on the 18th which he admitted led to ‘some muttering’.
There was also the matter of noise from mobile ‘phones and cameramen to contend with. Twice on the 11th, McIlroy backed off his wedge approach to the green.
On the short 14th, he chided a photographer for clicking away at him while playing partner Matthew Fitzpatrick was about to play a chip shot from the edge of the green.
‘It’s tough when you have to back off shots and you’re in your routine. You sort of get put off, but it is what it is.
‘I wish people would consume the golf a bit more through their eyes than the lens of their camera. But the modern world and we have to deal with it.’
While these distractions were irritating, they didn’t excuse the inconsistency of his game which has yielded just six birdies, four of them on par fives he reached in two.
On the longest course in Irish Open history, McIlroy should have an advantage, but this links is as narrow as a drain-pipe and finding truffles would be easier than finding some of these firm fairways.
Reaching for his Taylormade driver wasn’t always the most prudent option and McIlroy acknowledged ‘it (the drivers) is hard to resist because I like to hit the driver as much as I possibly can. Sometimes it’s just not worth it out here with the angles off the tees and the doglegs.’
When he safely negotiated the challenges off the tee, McIlroy found the greens a puzzle and admitted afterwards: ‘If you see a few drop, you can get some confidence going and be a bit more positive in your reads.
‘You have to be precise on these greens. All I can is keep knocking on the door and hopefully, sooner or later, it’ll turn around. If I shot two 68s on the weekend, I don’t think I would be too far away. Double digits under par is a great target,’ he said.
‘It is not as if the guys are getting away out there.’
As McIlroy was a stumbling to a bogey on his final hole, some 50 yards away Ryan Fox was walking down the first fairway without a sinner for support.
Fox was chased by many hares yesterday but apart from Pavon and Van Rooyen, he’s yet to be run to ground.