Wayward McIlroy gets that sinking feeling as water ends challenge
ADAM SCOTT’s bid for a third straight victory and Rory McIlroy’s faint hopes of simply getting into contention for a first win of 2016 came to a watery end in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill yesterday.
McIlroy had targeted back-to-back rounds of 66 over the weekend to climb the leaderboard after beginning the third round 11 shots behind halfway leader Jason Day.
But by the end of the third round Day had stretched his lead to 16 over the Irishman after finishing his third round with a 70 to stand on 15 under, two shots ahead of Americans Troy Merritt and Kevin Chappell and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson.
And after starting from the 10th due to an early two-tee start in anticipation of bad weather in Orlando, McIlroy had moved in the right direction with birdies on the 11th and 16th to reach four under par.
However, his approach to the 18th then landed in the rocks on the edge of a water hazard and led to a double-bogey six, which was soon followed by another on the third, where the four-time major winner found water off the tee and with his attempted recovery.
The 26-year-old, who found the water three times in an opening 75 before recovering with a 67 on Friday, did birdie the sixth, only to card his third double bogey of the day on the seventh, where he found sand off the tee and compounded the error by three-putting from long range.
McIlroy’s 75 left him one over par for the tournament, while Scott was adrift following one costly mistake in a round of 70.
The former world No 1, who won the Honda Classic and WGC-Cadillac Championship in his last two starts, was five under par for the day before finding water with his approach to the 18th and then seeing his fourth shot plug in a greenside bunker.
That led to a triplebogey seven and left Scott well back at six under par.
Stenson began the round two shots behind Day but moved into the lead with birdies on the fourth and fifth and an eagle from six feet on the sixth, only to bogey the seventh and see Day reclaim the lead by chipping in from the back of the green on the eighth.
Day bogeyed the 11th after finding water with his approach, but Stenson then bogeyed the parfive 12th after his drive plugged in a fairway bunker to fall behind again.