There’s no Hollywood ending as Rory bid hits the rocks
THERE was no Hollywood ending yesterday for rory McIlroy following his first week back as world no1. Just a final round filled with frustration as the prestigious Genesis Invitational went instead to Adam scott, the Australian with the movie star good looks.
The man from the other Holywood tried manfully to recover from an ugly triple bogey early in his round, but this was not a day to play catch-up on a riviera course playing us Open-tough, as the greens dried out at the end of a tournament played under unbroken blue skies.
A few too many bad swings and some plain bad luck added up to a disappointing 73 for McIlroy, who finished three shots back in a tie for fifth place.
scott won this title in 2005 when the tournament was reduced to 36 holes owing to bad weather. What a contrast this time.
The 39-year-old rates riviera as the best venue on the circuit and the love was certainly returned as he recovered from an early double bogey of his own to shoot 70 and claim his first win on the PGA Tour in almost four years.
‘This feels amazing to end the drought at a place as special as this,’ said scott.
For a game so often played at a snail’s pace, it’s amazing how swiftly things can change.
For 58 holes spread over four days, nothing altered the perception that McIlroy was on course to celebrate his newly regained no 1 status with a statement victory.
Then, in the space of 20 shocking minutes, he went from being tied at the top to falling off the leaderboard.
All week, he had rightly highlighted the dramatic improvement in his course management, only to undo the good work with a desperate strategic error at the par-four fifth.
The one place you cannot be after two blows is down the steep bank at the back of the green, as McIlroy and scott would show. neither would be on the green after three shots, either, as the Aussie went on to make a six.
A still worse fate befell McIlroy, as he three-putted for a triple.
you might have to go back to the first hole at The Open at royal Portrush last July to find the last time he had one of those. A bogey at the sixth, and the northern Irishman had fallen out of the top ten.
It’s a good job the 30-year-old has an equable temperament, for he was certainly tested over the next three holes. On the seventh, his approach shot looked as if it would finish close to the flag, but cannoned into the ball of scott, who had already played.
At the eighth, he pounded a risky drive down the middle of a tight fairway only to end up in a divot in a part of the landing area where there were barely any.
Just to complete the picture, his birdie putt following two fine shots to the ninth horseshoed out. When he missed from eight feet for a birdie at the tenth, the frustration was plain, as he punched the flagstick.
By the time he got to the 11th tee, he was back on an even keel, crashing another perfect drive to finally set up a birdie. But he couldn’t build on it in the holes that followed, until finally getting a birdie putt to drop when it didn’t matter, at the 18th.
Just as he did in the first round, tournament host Tiger Woods eagled the opening hole. sadly for him, there are 17 other holes that he didn’t play anywhere near as well. An event that began with a wonderful front nine of 31 shots on Thursday had long since unravelled by the time he completed his week’s work over the same stretch yesterday, as he followed his 76 on saturday with a 77 to finish dead last of the 68 players who made the cut.
needless to say, with seven weeks to the defence of his Masters title, there is plenty of work to do both on his worrisome stiff back and his game.