Rory Mcilroy,
the world’s top-ranked golfer, walked off the course on Friday at the Honda Classic.
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Rory McIlroy left before his round was even over. Tiger Woods had to rally just to stick around.
And with all that drama Friday in the Honda Classic, few noticed that rookie Luke Guthrie shot a 7-under 63 to take a one-shot lead going into the weekend at PGA National.
After f i nishing his round, Guthrie was walking into an interview room when someone mentioned that McIlroy had walked off the course after being 7 over par through eight holes.
“I had no clue,” Guthrie said. “I was just kind of going about my business out there.”
He was at 9-under 131 and had a one-shot lead over Michael Thompson.
McIlroy, who missed the cut in Abu Dhabi and lost in the first round of the Match Play Championship in his previous two starts, made a double bogey on his second hole and rinsed two balls in the water on the 16th hole on his way to a triple bogey.
He hit his approach to the 18th in the water and never finished the hole.
McIlroy told three reporters who followed him to his car that it was nothing physical but that he was “not in a good place mentally.”
An hour later, he released a statement through his management company that he couldn’t concen- trate because of a sore wisdom tooth.
Woods looked as if he might join him. After mixing birdies with bogeys, Woods went bunker-to-bunker, over the green, short of the green and wound up with a double bogey on the 13th hole that put him one shot under the cut line with five holes to play
Woods rallied with a shot into 5 feet for birdie, a 6-foot par putt on the 16th hole, a par save from the back bunker on the 17th and a par save from near the grandstand by the 18th green.
He wound up with another 70 to make the cut.
OTHER TOURNAMENTS
HSBC Women’s Cham
pions at Singapore: Stacy Lewis made six birdies to shoot a 66-under and take a two-stroke lead after Friday’s second round.
Lewis, the reigning LPGA Player of the Year, was at 11-under 133 at Sentosa Golf Club.
She led a pack of six players tied for second: Ariya Jutanugarn (66), Na Yeon Choi (66), Chella Choi (67), Paula Creamer (67), Sun Young Yoon (68) and overnight leader Azahara Munoz (70).
Tshwane Open at Centurion, South Africa: Charl Coetzee of South Africa shot a 7-under 65 to hold the clubhouse lead by a stroke Friday when a thunderstorm halted the second round of the European Tour event.