An erratic driver has Rory McIlroy in grave danger of missing the cut at the US Open after the world number two finished 11 shots behind leader Rickie Fowler.
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On Wednesday, McIlroy aired his annoyance that the USGA had cut the fescue rough after complaints about its length, but despite the generous fairways it was he who struggled to find the fairways as he slumped to a 78 on Thursday.
McIlroy found just 36% of the fairways, which in turn meant that he found just 50% of the greens in regulation in what turned out to be a horrible day for golf’s richest player.
The Northern Irishman’s day got off to the perfect start after he saved par at the first, then sank a 25 foot putt for eagle on the second when he drove the green in what turned out to be the only shots he gained on the course.
He turned level after bogeys at 3 and 8 before a calamitous back nine saw him two over as he stood on the 15th tee. He left +4 after a double and would give another two shots back by making another double on 17 to card a disappointing 78.
‘Well, it all started so well. I just, I don’t think I hit a fairway from the 10th, ‘ McIlroy said.
‘I hit the fairway on the 10th, and I didn’t hit one on the way in. You cannot play this golf course if you’re not in position off the tee, and I wasn’t in position. Obviously, I paid the price for it today.’
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The 28-year-old has not played much this season after struggling to overcome the injury he picked up during the SA Open at Glendower in January, but refused to blame that for his indifferent start.
‘I feel great. That’s all totally fine. I was hacking around in the rough out there and didn’t feel it one bit. So, no, that’s totally fine.’
Instead, he blamed rust and a lack of timing that has him behind the eight ball after 18 holes.
‘Just timing was a little bit off, and that was it. Yeah, just really bad tee shots which led to obviously not being able to give myself many looks for birdies.
‘A little bit of rust. A bit of rust, timing. Timing was a little off. I started missing some left on the course and tried to sort of correct it on the way in and missed a couple right. So a little bit of timing, and a bit of rust as well, yeah.’
McIlroy insists the turnaround can be quick and effective if he finds more fairways, although the stats show that he took 32 putts, average 0.10 more per hole, than the field.
‘Yeah, I mean, I feel like I’m capable. As I said, I just need to get the ball on the fairway. If I get the ball on the fairway, I can give myself some chances and some looks at birdies.
‘And you know, that just wasn’t the case today. I didn’t play the par-5s particularly well today either. So, there are a lot of things that I could have done better today, obviously. Just have to try to go out tomorrow and rectify those.’
And it wasn’t only the world number two who struggled, as playing partner Jason Day shot a back nine 40 to finish +7, while world number one Dustin Johnson was +3 after struggling to get it going on the greens.
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Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images
