Major woes continue for Rory
First drive finds alligator infested water... and Rory is sinking again in a major
RORY McILROY’S opening drive in the third round of the US PGA Championship yesterday sailed way to the right, splashing down in a penalty area and drawing the attention of an alligator swimming happily nearby. Now that’s what you call a water hazard.
This was the major where McIlroy hoped to snap out of his seven-year funk, and the day when he needed to menace those at the top of the leaderboard, not creatures belonging to the local habitat.
In the third round here nine years ago he took control of the tournament, starting out with five birdies in his first eight holes on his march to victory. The most benign conditions of the week greeted the Northern Irishman this time to offer a similar opportunity for progress. Then came that opening tee shot.
Just as he did in the first round on Thursday, beginning at the tenth, he started out with a penalty drop.
At eight shots off the lead he needed an error-free performance to get back into contention but here was one right at the start. Until he can recapture his imperious consistency with the best club in his bag under the tutelage of new coach Pete Cowen, it’s hard to see how McIlroy, 32, can return to being a force in the majors.
You might be able to get away with some wild ones at tournaments like the Wells Fargo Championship, scene of his first victory in 18 months recently, but the major set-ups these days are too hard to permit such profligacy.
The par-five second at least offered the opportunity to get the lost stroke back, or rather it would under normal circumstances. The long holes he usually feasts upon have offered no comfort and here was another example, as he flew the green with his second shot and could only manage a par. There are four par-fives on the Ocean Course and, over the first three rounds, McIlroy mustered a scarcely believable five bogeys, playing them in an aggregate of three over. In 2012, he played them in eight under.
Another wild drive at the troublesome tenth meant another ball in the water, albeit not in the vicinity of any visible alligators. And a bogey at the par-five 11th meant all the promise of his second round, where he had played far better than his 72 suggested, had slipped away.
McIlroy’s exasperated expression as he walked off the 18th green underlined that this was far from the week he wanted. He finished with a 74 so this will be another major Sunday playing for pride.
There were clearly good scores to be had as well. Jordan Spieth started out one shot further
off the lead than McIlroy, following two of the worst putting rounds of his career. He even thought he had missed the halfway cut when he pulled a tiddler to bogey his last hole on Friday, but here he showed his gratitude that he was still around.
Was he inspired by Phil Mickelson, and his attempt at age 50 becoming the oldest major winner in history? Spieth, of course, began the week with history of his own in his sights, as he attempted to become only the sixth man to complete the career Grand Slam.
There might have been little sign of that over the first two days but Spieth, who has rebuilt his game so impressively this year, certainly showed up for the third round.
As ever with the 27-year-old, there were plenty of loose shots, but he was up to his old magical tricks around the greens.
A poor tee shot to the par-three fifth might have had plenty of others sweating on making a par but the Texan chipped in for his second birdie of the round.
At the tenth, the player who holes more putts in the 20-25 foot range than any man in history added one more to his extraordinary total and then took advantage of the two parfive holes to move to five-under for his round. Spieth had begun the day with 51 players ahead of him. Now he was up to 14th.
Yet there really is no hiding place on the final two holes. You either stand up and hit beauties or you’re in trouble. Spieth found that out at the 17th where he pulled his tee shot miles off line and not even the great escapologist could get out of jail this time. After getting down in two strokes or fewer seven times out of seven to that point, he finally dropped a shot. A more customary chip and putt at the 18th meant a 68 to leave him five shots off the pace when he walked off the final green, with 19 players ahead of him.
Like McIlroy, Spieth was done for the day even before Mickelson began his third round tied for the lead with South Africa’s former Open champion Louis Oosthuizen.
A spectacular day by the Atlantic
simply added to the landscape, as gifted ball strikers such as Brooks Koepka, seeking his third PGA victory in four years, and Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama sought to hunt down the leaders.
Up ahead, newcomer Will Zalatoris, who burst to prominence with a runner-up finish on his Masters debut, showed what was possible by picking up three strokes in his first eight holes. That left him just three adrift.
Former Masters champion Patrick Reed shot a 69, as did former US Open winner Webb Simpson — but both men started too far back to influence proceedings today.
Among the early finishers, it’s not often you get to play at the weekend after a second round of 80, and Englishman Sam Horsfield, at 24 playing just his fifth major round as a pro, would no doubt have learned plenty as he shot 73.
Danny Willett compiled a 74 and Scot Bob MacIntyre returned a 72 to finish their rounds placed outside the top 50.
And will this tournament prove a welcome turning point for the struggling Rickie Fowler?
He’s fallen so far he’s now ranked 128th in the world and only playing this week courtesy of a special exemption from the PGA of America. But at 32 he has always felt at home beside the sea and showed his determination to justify his inclusion with a 69 to be placed alongside Spieth for the final round.