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PGA Tour

Players Championship: Rory McIlroy sinks five balls in to the water

After stunning 26 birdies in the 2024 Players Championship, Rory McIlroy should have earned a top spot on the leaderboard. The iron and short game of the Northern Irishman was solid and his putting gained him several of these birdies. But it looks like, with all the range work going in to the irons, he kind of forgot about his driver. Over the course of the four round McIlroy sank five golf balls in to the water at TPC Sawgrass, more than any other player.

Rory McIlroy sinks Players win

The first few holes of McIlroy’s Players Championship lookes promising, with the Northern Irishman securing six birdies within eight holes. Than a hooked drive followed on the 18th tee. It was the first time he had to take a penalty shot and drop a golf ball, but it was certainly not the last. He bogeyd 18 and went on noting three more birdies an his Back Nine. Than the 7th tee came and with it, another golf ball was gone into the water. Again it was a poor drive flying short left.

And his misfortune continued. On day two he found the water an the 12th, with – who could have guessed – his driver. The only day without a ball lost to the blue in TPC Sawgrass was round 3, alltough even on this day McIlroy had to lock in a double bogey on 14 after a drive going far right into a waste area.

In the final round McIlroy explored a new water area on hole four. This time it wasn’t the fault of his driver. Instead he sank the ball with a wedge and harsh wind conditions. Later on however he revisited the 18th hole left side penalty area and sank another drive at about the same place he did in round one.

So 26 birdies, 11 bogeys and 3 double bogeys later McIlroy finished with -9 on T17. And the author would venture a relatively safe prediction that he will be spending a few extra hours on the range with the driver over the coming week.

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PGA Tour

Rory McIlroy After Players Championship: “I Think I’m Headed in the Right Direction”

Rory McIlroy finishes the Players Championship, the flagship event of the PGA Tour, in 19th place. The Northern Irishman posted a score of 72 (even par) on the final day at the TPC Sawgrass. In the press conference after the final round, he explained why he was not satisfied despite 26 birdies and how the dispute with LIV Golf could continue.

Full Interview with Rory McIlroy after Players Championship

Question: You said at the beginning of the week you were kind of in between swings. I know it’s probably not the week you wanted, but do you feel like you’re closer to whichever one you want?

Rory McIlory: I think overall I probably made a little bit of progress from this time last Sunday at the Arnold Palmer, so, yeah, it’s there. I think, after the first round I sort of my expectations sort of went sky high because I was like, oh, I think I’ve figured it out. Then the last three days were a little bit more of a struggle.

But I think I’m headed in the right direction. I’ve definitely straightened out a few of the iron shots, which was a big key for me coming into this week. I made enough birdies, it’s just a matter of getting rid of the bad stuff.

Question: You’re playing the week before the Masters, but do you think you might visit Augusta in advance, or has that been as good for you as you would have liked?

Rory McIlory: No, I mean, I might go there on the way to San Antonio. Might head up there on the Monday and play and then head to San Antonio. But no trips planned as of yet.

Question: It’s always kind of cool, though, sometimes you go with your dad, I mean just maybe just for the fun of it more than anything?

Rory McIlory: Yeah, I’ve done that a lot and it’s really nice and I can certainly do that after the Masters, but when I do it before, I don’t feel like I get a ton out of it. Like in terms of like preparation for the week and actually getting into the mindset I need to get into. So maybe a quick pit stop on the way to San Antonio to play a practice round and spend some time. But as I said, nothing planned as of yet.

Question: It’s been confirmed that there’s a meeting tomorrow with the player directors and Yasir. Do you welcome that?

Rory McIlory: Absolutely. I think it should have happened months ago, so I am glad that it’s happening. Hopefully that progresses conversations and gets us closer to a solution.

Question: Does Tiger need to be involved in that do you think at this point?

Rory McIlory: I mean, he’s a player director. He’s on the board, so absolutely he needs to be involved.

Question: What you do hope their message is? What do you hope to take away from that meeting?

Rory McIlory: The players or the PIF?

Question: The players.

Rory McIlory: The players? That fundamentally he wants to do the right thing. I think I’ve said this before, I have spent time with Yasir and his — the people that have represented him in LIV I think have done him a disservice, so Norman and those guys.

I see the two entities, and I think there’s a big, I actually think there’s a really big disconnect between PIF and LIV. I think you got PIF over here and LIV are sort of over here doing their own thing. So the closer that we can get to Yasir, PIF and hopefully finalize that investment, I think that will be a really good thing.

Question: What does PIF want do you think that’s different to LIV?

Rory McIlory: Look, they’re a sovereign wealth fund. They want to park money for decades and not worry about it. They want to invest in smart and secure businesses, and the PGA TOUR is definitely one of those, especially if they’re looking to invest in sport in some way.

Question: Back on the golf, 26 birdies is a record around here. I know it’s nice to be leaving with —

Rory McIlory: Woo-hoo. (Laughing).

Question: There’s been a lot of people play here in 50 years.

Rory McIlory: Yeah, no, it feels, I did the same — I did the same thing at the back end of 2020 I remember, the back end of the COVID year I was making a ton of birdies and making a ton of mistakes, as well, and it was just a matter of trying to figure out a way to keep the bogeys off the card and still make the birdies.

So, yeah, look, it’s not all bad. It could be a lot worse, I guess. If these are the worse finishes that I’m going to have 20ths, you know, I feel like that’s my floor and I haven’t quite got to the golf that I’ve wanted to play to get to my ceiling. Hopefully, over the next few weeks I can work at it and get closer to that level of golf.

Question: Is the volatility swing related or is it an approach thing you’ve seen in the last couple weeks?

Rory McIlory: I think it’s swing related. My misses last week were predominantly to the left. So I really tried to eradicate that this week, and for the most part with the irons I did, but started to get a left miss off the tee.

Golf is a very fickle game. It gives you one thing and then takes away something else from you. It’s just, again, like, I feel like I’ve got all the components there, but just trying to put them all together on a given week. That’s the tricky part at the minute.

Question: Is that bigger picture view that you said — or excuse me, when you talked with Yasir, did you sense from him a bigger picture view than what we’re seeing with LIV?

Rory McIlory: Absolutely. I think there’s a way to incorporate — I think, you know, they’re big on team golf and they want to see team golf survive in some way in the calendar. I don’t think it has to necessarily look like LIV. I think in my mind you should leave the individual golf the individual golf and then you play your team golf on the sort of periphery of that.

But, again, it’s going to require patience. People have contracts at LIV up until 2028, 2029. I don’t know if they’re going to see that all the way out, but I definitely see LIV playing in its current form for the next couple years anyway while everything gets figured out. I don’t think this is an overnight solution, but if we can get the investment in, then at least we can start working towards a compromise where we’re not going to make everyone happy, but at least make everyone understand why we’re doing what we’re doing.

Question: What particularly is it about LIV that you see is the disconnect with Yasir?

Rory McIlory: I think their disruptiveness and his — their disruptiveness, and then his, I don’t know what the right word is, I guess his desire to be involved in the world of golf in a productive way.

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PGA Tour

Rory McIlroy after controversial drop at Players: “I was adamant”

Rory McIlroy put in a strong performance on the first day of the Players Championship. But the number one topic of conversation was his controversial drop. In the PGA Tour press conference, he spoke about how everyone just wants to do the right thing and which statistic he is particularly happy with. Read the full press conference with Rory McIlroy here.

Rory McIlroys press conference after round one of The Players

Question: Not a total golf question, but I know you’re a big sports fan. Caleb Williams, who’s never seen a golf tournament in his life, became a golf fan through his coach at Southern Cal, so he specifically wanted to follow you and Spieth. You guys are fans of other things; what’s it like to have a guy who’s never played golf before, probably be the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, and he wanted to follow your group?

Rory McIlroy: Thank you for telling me what sport he played. (Laughter).

Yeah, it’s really cool. I think golf is hopefully becoming more popular and more mainstream and sort of making it out of its little niche area that it has. Yeah, it is, it’s very cool to have people out there following that take an interest in what we’re doing out there, especially other athletes.

One of my favorite things to do is to go and watch other sporting events and sort of talk to other athletes, how they approach their sport and how they try to master their craft. It’s always nice to hear when other athletes take an interest in us, as well.

Question: That scene on the 7th, was that necessary in your eyes, or was it all needless?

Rory McIlroy: I think Jordan was just trying to make sure that I was doing the right thing. I mean, I was pretty sure that my ball had crossed where I was sort of dropping it. It’s so hard, right, because there was no TV evidence. I was adamant. But I think, again, he was just trying to make sure that I was going to do the right thing.

If anything, I was being conservative with it. I think at the end of the day we’re all trying to protect ourselves, protect the field, as well. I wouldn’t say it was needless. I think he was just trying to make sure that what happened was the right thing.

Question: You talked yesterday about being kind of stuck in between two swings. It seemed like for most of the day it was much, much better, obviously with the two exceptions. How much more comfortable was it today, and what did you find?

Rory McIlroy: Yeah, I’m not sure how the strokes gained approach stats look like, but it’s probably been one of my best days in a while, which is really nice.

Yeah, the feeling is good with the irons, and the feeling with the driver and the 3-wood is just a little bit different, but as long as I remind myself on the tee box that okay, this is a wood, and I get on the fairway, and this is an iron, and I’ve got two different feels and two different thoughts, then it’s okay.

Yeah, much, much improved on the approach play today, which was nice to see.

Question: (Question about the tee shot on 7).

Rory McIlroy: Yeah, they were just a bit guidey, a bit uncommitted, more so than anything else.

Question: You called Sunday a wake-up call. What did it wake you up to?

Rory McIlroy: Just I needed to clean up the technique a little bit, needed to clean up some things. Honestly, just needed to put the time in. I think when you play — I’ve wanted to play a lot to start this year, and I have, but when you play a lot, you don’t maybe get the time to practice all that much. At the same time, say I had a decent day on Sunday at Bay Hill and shot 70, for sure I would have taken Monday off here. But because of not shooting a decent score, I grinded on the range and figured something out and put the time in, and it’s sort of already reaping benefits, so that’s nice.

Question: I know it’s golf, but is it awkward when you have that sort of conversation on the 7th?

Rory McIlroy: I mean, I guess I started to doubt myself a little bit. I was like, okay, did I actually see what I thought I saw.

But I mean, as long as — I was comfortable, and I was just making sure that Jordan and Viktor were comfortable, too.

Question: Seems a bit tough that they’ve got all these cameras all over the course and they’ve got a blind spot there.

Rory McIlroy: Yeah, it is a bit of a blind spot. I think the best view was from the tee, which was the view that we had.

Question: You saw it bounce?

Rory McIlroy: I did, yeah. It was just a matter of whether it was above the line or below, and I thought I saw it pitch above the line.

Question: (Question about where the ball landed.)

Rory McIlroy: Yeah. I mean, yeah, I think so.

Question: 18 was a similar situation.

Rory McIlroy: 18 was a pretty similar situation. Again, adamant it crossed, it’s just a matter of where it crosses. I think this golf course more than any other, it sort of produces those situations a little bit.

Again, like I feel like I’m one of the most conscientious golfers out here, so if I feel like I’ve done something wrong, it’ll play on my conscience for the rest of the tournament. I’m a big believer in karma, and if you do something wrong, I feel like it’s going to come around and bite you at some point.

I obviously don’t try to do anything wrong out there, and play by the rules and do the right thing. I feel like I obviously did that those two drops.

Question: Two in the water and shoot 65, you couldn’t have asked for much more, I would think?

Rory McIlroy: It would be nice to shoot 62 and not have two in the water, I guess. (Laughter).

Question: The last few years you’ve had a tough start here which got you behind the 8-ball. How nice was it to get off to a hot start and attack a round?

Rory McIlroy: Yeah, I think it goes back to I didn’t have many expectations going out there today because I was like, okay, feels good on the range and feels good in practice, but let’s see how it is when you’ve got a card in your hand.

There’s something to be said for that, just sort of lessening the expectations a little bit and going out there and seeing what happens. But yeah, it was obviously a great start.

Question: Is it hard to reset when there’s been a long delay like that and get back into the rhythm?

Rory McIlroy: Yeah, a little bit. It was disappointing not to get that up-and-down on 7, but that’s probably why I give it a little mini-fist pump on 9 to feel like I got one of those shots back.

Yeah, you have to reset and you have to try to get back into the zone that you were in for the 15 previous holes.

Question: When you say you were maybe doubting what you saw with your own eyes in terms of determining where you needed to drop, how do you balance that between the input you’re getting from your playing partners versus what you saw with your own eyes?

Rory McIlroy: Yeah, exactly. I was adamant that I saw it bounce above the red line, but then when someone comes in and says, well, someone thought that it didn’t. Then you’re like — it just puts some doubt in your mind. Again, it’s up to you to be comfortable enough with your decision that you did see what you saw, I guess.

Question: Viktor and Jordan didn’t speak to the media, but from your perspective, did you feel like everybody was comfortable after the round with the decisions made on the course on 18 and 7?

Rory McIlroy: I think so, yeah. I’m comfortable. I think that’s the most important thing.
Trancript by ASAP Sports

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Highlights Tours

Ryder Cup 2023: Rory McIlroy – A Tower of Strength

Rory McIlroy is a 34-year-old Northern Irishman and one of the most successful golfers in the world. At just 22, he was the second-youngest player ever to top the world rankings at the time. He has won four major tournaments and 20 others on the PGA Tour. All eyes will be on the fan favorite at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome.

Rory McIlroy at the 2023 Ryder Cup

Due to Rory McIlroy’s successful season, the Northern Irishman qualified for the Ryder Cup in two ways. He led the European points rankings at the time of his qualification and followed in second place behind Jon Rahm in the world points ranking. With two victories in the 2022/2023 season and a total of eleven top-10 finishes, he collected enough points to be nominated first, together with Jon Rahm, for the Ryder Cup.

The world number two played 16 tournaments last season and missed the cut only twice. He managed a top-10 finish impressive eleven times, including two T2’s and two victories. In October 2022, he won the CJ Cup in South Carolina, one of the first tournaments of the PGA Tour season. Then in July 2023, he won the British Open dress rehearsal, the Genesis Scottish Open, and bagged about three and a half million dollars with those two wins alone. He narrowly missed winning the US Open and the Arnold Palmer Invitational by finishing second. In total, McIlroy earned around 13 million dollars in prize money during the 2022-2023 season

Will Rory McIlroy write the next chapter in golf history in the 2023 Ryder Cup?

In 2010, at the age of 21, McIlroy won the Ryder Cup for the first time with Team Europe. In stormy Wales the decision even had to be postponed until Monday. In 2012, he defended the title with a historic comeback by the European team. After trailing six to ten, the Europeans won for the seventh time out of the at that time last nine Ryder Cups.

In 2014, he made a historic start in match play against Rickie Fowler, winning five of the first six holes. With this victory, among others, the Europeans again defended their title. 2018 was the for now last victory of Team Europe in which McIlroy again played a part. After an emotional loss in 2021 he will again be an integral part of the European Ryder Cup Team in 2023, as he has been for 13 years. With all his experience, he is a tower fo strength for Team Europe.

Rory McIlroy’s greatest successes and prize money

Rory McIlroy became famous at a young age. He made his first TV appearance at the age of eight, won the U10 World Championship in Miami at 9, made his first hole-in-one at 10 and was already leading the amateur world rankings at 17. Alongside Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, the Northern Irishman is the only player to have won four major titles by the age of 25.

In a total of 236 events, he missed the cut only 30 times. In just under half of the tournaments he has played, he has reached the top 10. 71 of these were top 5 finishes, ten third places and ten more runner ups. His greatest successes are his Major victories. In 2011 he won the US Open for his first major title. In 2012, he took the title at the PGA Championship. Two years later, he won two of the four major tournaments, the PGA Championship again and the Open Championship. He now only needs the Masters in Augusta to have been successful in all four major tournaments and complete a career Grand Slam. He also won the FedExCup three times, most recently in 2022. The Northern Irishman has earned around 79 million dollars in prize money during his career.

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Panorama

British Open preparation: Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy on the course together

Earlier this week, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods competed in the famous JP McManus Pro-Am together with many other stars of the (golf) world. But while most professionals are now using the Scottish Open as a final rehearsal for the upcoming British Open 2022, the two superstars are preparing in their own way. McIlroy and Woods played a round of golf at Ballybunion Golf Club, one of Ireland’s top courses.

Tiger Tracking on Twitter

When Tiger Woods gets on a plane or plays a practice round, the golf world looks intently at social media. So it was before the other majors this year that the 15-time major winner played again a year after his nasty car accident. When Tiger landed at Augusta, crazy scenes played out on Twitter. Well, before the British Open, Tiger had flown across the pond early for the charity pro-am – not unnoticed by the attentive fan community either, of course.

Several pictures and videos of the relaxed round on the links course of Ballybunion GC with his friend Rory McIlroy are circulating on social media. In typically dreary weather, preparations are underway for the 150th Open Championship, which will be played on the Old Course at St Andrews next week. The Scottish Open followed by a Major would probably be too much for the convalescent who had cancelled the US Open. The superstar was also out in a cart at the JP McManus in order to rest the leg that had been so badly injured.

Together with Rory McIlroy, who is also taking a break from tournaments after energy-sapping weeks, Tiger seems to be enjoying the round of links golf. McIlroy shares memories of “back in the day”, as a video reveals. “I used to aim down the middle of the fairway, it would start down the right edge and then draw back to the middle of the fairway,” “Rors” told his playing partner, demonstrating his skills.

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy ahead of the British Open 2022

Of course, we don’t want to deny you the pictures and videos of the two superstars. Simply two legends of golf playing a casual round of links golf – delightful!

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PGA Tour

Rory McIlroy after his victory at the RBC Canadian Open

At the weekend, Rory McIlroy defended his title in Canada at the RBC Canadian Open with a fabulous final round. The Northern Irishman had to wait three years for this chance due to corona – and now he used it. With a two-stroke lead, he now holds the Canadian trophy in his hands for the second time. After a few weeks in which he always placed well, but was never enough for the top, McIlroy is particularly pleased about the victory.

McIlroy on the 18th green

You’ve waited probably the longest of anyone in golf history to defend a title, three years. What’s it like to get your name on this trophy with the names like Snead and Palmer and Trevino and Tiger and now for the second time your name?

McIlroy: Yeah, national championships are a big deal. I’m lucky enough to have won a few of them and to get my name on here again with the likes of as you say, so many iconic figures in this game, this is what golf’s about and I’m just, I’m so proud to have my name on there again.

What was this crowd like? What was it like playing in front of these people chanting your name every step of the way, cheering you on from start to finish? Tell us what it felt like from Thursday through to this last putt.

McIlroy: It was absolutely incredible. Thank you. Like from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much. This tournament is absolutely unbelievable. Thank you to the fans, St. George’s, RBC, Golf Canada, the volunteers, everyone that put this event on. I’ll remember this day for a long, long time.

There’s been six people who have won this back-to-back. Nobody’s won this three times in a row. What do you think?

McIlroy: I’m going to give it a go. I’ll be here next year.

Rory McIlroy on his round, the Canadian fans and the US Open next week

We would like to welcome our champion of the 2022 RBC Canadian Open, Rory McIlroy, into the interview room. Rory successful defends a title on the PGA TOUR for the first time, wins on the PGA TOUR for the 21st time, and moves into a tie for 31st on the all-time PGA TOUR wins list. Rory, if we could just get an opening comment on the victory and what it means to you.

McIlroy: And one more than Norman. Yeah, it means an awful lot. I feel like it’s getting tougher and tougher to win on the PGA TOUR. Even, just look at the two guys that I played with today. I went out with a lead and had to shoot 8-under par to get the job done. So the depth of talent on this TOUR is really, really impressive. And going up against guys like JT and Tony and coming out on top, that’s something to feel really good about.

So super happy to get that 21st win, to defend, even though it doesn’t feel like a defense because it’s been so long. And then just to play in a final group like that with that atmosphere all day. I mean the fans here this week have just been absolutely unbelievable. Like so good and so cool to play in an atmosphere like that. Boisterous, loud, but respectful. It was really, really cool.

It was really cool to be a part of and just really happy to get the win today and obviously sets me up well going into next week in Boston. But right now I just want to enjoy this and focus on this.

You mentioned the 8-under par score today. 62 ties the lowest final round score by a winner on TOUR this season. What was the key to the round that, you just kept your foot on the pedal the whole day, how were you able to do that?

McIlroy: Yeah, I think you needed to today. So if you look at the scoring Thursday, Friday, compared to the scoring over the weekend, we had a northerly wind direction Thursday, Friday, which makes the golf course play a little bit tougher. And then we had a southerly wind direction yesterday and today, which definitely makes the golf course play a touch easier.

So I think seeing the forecast last night and seeing that southerly wind again I knew I needed to go out and shoot 5- or 6-under par to have a chance to win.

So, yeah, you needed to keep your foot down, you needed to keep your foot on the pedal. I got off to a faster start today than I have done the previous few days. When you’ve got that little stretch around the tournament, 9, 10, 11, where you can make some birdies and I just kept it going.

I let them in, I let them back in a little bit after I got the 3-shot lead with a couple of missed short ones. But really proud of how I bounced back and birdied those last two holes to get the job done.

You mentioned earlier that this set you up well for Boston. Just wondering, playing a course like this that has some similarities to the Country Club how much confidence can you take into Brookline next week?

McIlroy: Yeah, I mean, I think that it’s not as if I win here and then we’re going to like Erin Hills or somewhere like that where it’s completely different. It’s a similar style of golf, it will probably be a similar setup in some ways. I would imagine the greens next week will be a little firmer if they get the weather they want to.

But overall I thought it was a great week to prepare for the U.S. Open and there’s no better way to prepare yourself for tournament golf than to be in contention, having to hit the shots when you need to. And I proved this week that I can do that and hopefully get myself back into position to have to do that again next week.

You and JT shared an embrace out on the 18th hole right after you won. Curious if you wouldn’t mind revealing what was said and just speak to just how special that was. I know you wanted to beat him but at the end of the day you guys are competing and both really had a great week.

McIlroy: Yeah, so JT is a tough competitor, but he’s also a really, really good friend of mine. And I have probably more respect for him than maybe anyone else out here. Just because we both live in South Florida, we practice so much together, and I see how much, how hard he works at his craft. I appreciate that and I respect that. It’s always cool to be able to go up against the best and come out on top.

And, yeah, we had that embrace on the final green and I just said, Let’s do this all again next week. That’s what I said to him. So that would be cool to be able to do it all over again with him.

Do you consider yourself an honorary Canadian yet and if not what will it take?

McIlroy: (Laughing) Hey, I’ll take it, for sure. The support and the love I’ve got — I’ve only played in Canada twice, in Hamilton and then here. It’s been two pretty good trips.

But, yeah, look, the fans are amazing. They come out and they support this event really well. I think they just really appreciate the fact that we come up here and play in your national championship.

Yeah, if there was some honorary Canadian citizenship bestowed upon me I certainly wouldn’t turn it down. That would be a very proud thing for me. But, no, I’m happy to come up here once every now and again and play some golf and take this trophy south of the border with me.

You mentioned the enthusiasm of the fans. Have you ever seen the crowd rush on to the fairway like they did on 18 there and come right up to the greenside?

McIlroy: Yeah, so I was part of the group in East Lake in Atlanta 2018 when Tiger got his first win coming back, geez, it was his first win in a long time. I’m going to say like five years. I was an afterthought in that group, but I was witness to that. That to this day is one of the coolest things that’s ever happened to me in my career. Today felt sort of similar, maybe not quite the — well it was pretty raucous out there, but it’s really cool. Whenever that happens and you can enjoy your walk and you know you’ve got the tournament sewed up you can take it in and really relish it and enjoy it and it was a cool scene on 18, yeah.

You won so many tournaments, but how much confidence and belief comes about just winning on a Sunday like this and beating two guys, just going into a U.S. Open and for the future?

McIlroy: Yeah, it does, it gives you a lot of confidence to know that, just to see where your game stacks up against the best. JT’s coming off winning his second major at the PGA Championship. He’s won I think 15 times on TOUR. He’s done a lot in the game. Tony as well. Like Tony’s struggled a little bit the last sort of six to 12 months, but he seems to have really turned it around. He had a good finish at Colonial, had another good finish here.

So to go up against guys that are not just the best players in the world but best players in the world playing somewhat near their best and coming out on top, that, it can only give you confidence. So, yeah, and I guess for me, just some of the shots that I hit coming down the stretch, those are things to certainly build on going into the next few weeks.

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Highlights Tours

PGA Championship 2022: Rory McIlroy about his fantastic opening roud

JOHN DEVER: Welcome back to the 2022 PGA Championship here at Southern Hills Country Club. Joined by Rory McIlroy, who fashioned a 5-under par 65 today. Rory, that’s the quick start you’ve been looking for, yes or no?

RORY MCILROY: Yes or no? No, no, I’d rather shoot 74 and try to make the cut tomorrow. (Laughter.)

Yeah, look, it was a great start to the tournament. I’ve been playing well coming in here. I’ve been carrying some good form. Obviously that took a lot from that last round at Augusta, played well up in D.C. at the Wells Fargo there, and played good in the practice rounds earlier this week.

I think when your game is feeling like that, it’s just a matter of going out there and really sticking to your game plan, executing as well as you possibly can, and just sort of staying in your own little world. I did that really well today. It was nice to get off to that good start and sorta keep it going.

I feel like this course, it lets you be pretty aggressive off the tee if you want to be, so I hit quite a lot of drivers out there and took advantage of my length and finished that off with some nice iron play and some nice putting.

Q. What were you happiest with, and if there was disappointment, what were you most disappointed with?

RORY MCILROY: I think just happy with when you get off to a good start like that, sometimes you can maybe start to be a little careful or start to give yourself a little more margin for error, but I stuck to my game plan.

I stayed aggressive, hit that driver up 4, took an aggressive line on 5. Yeah, I stuck to what I was trying to do out there, which I was pleased with.

Then if anything obviously the two bogeys on the par-3s on the front nine, but it’s very easy to make bogeys out here. You get yourself just a little bit out of position, you catch a little bit of grain around the green, it’s tricky.

I didn’t encounter too many of those tricky scenarios today, but it can certainly be tricky. You get yourself out of position here, you just try to make a 4 or a par and run to the next.

Q. I was going to ask you about that line on 5 you took. Why did you decide to aim at that tree and hit a cut instead of working a draw or something? What’s the thinking?

RORY MCILROY: I snap hooked one on to the driving range yesterday, so at least I knew I wasn’t going to do that. That was basically it. And the wind was off the left. If anything I’m a little more comfortable hitting the driver left to right at the minute. I feel like my body works a little better, I can be more aggressive with my body; body doesn’t stop and arms go.

Some of those right-to-left winds today off the tee it was nice because I could just aim the driver up the middle of the fairway, hit like a nice hold against the wind.

But yeah, that was the reason. It wasn’t all to do with the shot yesterday, but just fits my eye a little better.

Q. You’ve talked about how it can be challenging playing with Tiger Woods or in these super groups. Is there an opposite to that where once you’re playing well you get more in the zone, or what’s the effect out there?

RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I think the nice thing around — like for example, it’s different playing with him here than it is say at East Lake, because East Lake feels so claustrophobic, the crowds are so much more on top of you.

Here it’s big wide corridors. I feel like there’s a lot of room, so it doesn’t feel as oppressive as some other venues. It’s sort of nice that — I was looking forward to the draw anyway. It’s always a cool group to be a part of.

But I think this golf course just with how it’s been opened up, it doesn’t feel quite as boisterous as it usually does.

Categories
Panorama

How far do amateur golfers hit their ball?

For years there has been discussion on the men’s professional tours about whether pros can hit the ball too far, and what effect that has on amateurs and on golf courses. A small study by a golf portal together with ShotScope show how far the amateur can hit his drive in all handicap classes, the comparison to the pros is enormous.

90 meters between professional and 25 handicap

The statistics show the average drive length for various handicap ranges. The scratch golfers among the amateurs hit the ball the farthest. They manage a solid 234 meters on average. The higher the handicap, the shorter the drives among amateurs. A handicap of 10 brings the ball into play at around 206 meters, but from handicaps of 15 and above, the distance of the tee shot drops well below 200 meters.

If you compare a player with a handicap of 25 with a tour pro, the difference is really serious: While the amateur hits the ball 172 meters with the driver, the average player on the PGA Tour drives 267 meters down the fairway. That’s more than 90 meters, and in our sport, of course, it’s worlds apart.

Even the comparison between scratch golfer and tour player is huge at this level. When the tour player hits 30 meters further than the scratch golfer the advantage is so great that once again you have to raise the question of whether the normal amateur can even grasp how the tour pro plays. Golf courses also face this problem. Many of the old courses, for example the Old Course at St. Andrews, are now actually too short for the pros. On the other hand, many of the newer courses are built to the length of the pros. The result is courses that are too long for the average golfer.

How to decrease the distances?

The fact is that many people are thrilled when Rory McIlroy or Bryson DeChambeau send the ball more than 300 meters down the fairway. But there is, firstly, an ever-growing faction that is not so happy about the whole thing. In addition, the R&A and USGA have to ask themselves how far they can and want to go with this game. The tours hit the ball further in each new decade than in the previous one, but this trend does not exist with the amateurs.

The first concepts on this subject are already being discussed. One idea, for example, is a flight-reduced ball for the pros. But even if one is convinced of the idea at the first moment, even such a simple solution brings with it a huge rat’s tail of problems. How does this ball behave? When will the amateur who wants to become a professional switch to this ball so as not to be at a disadvantage compared to those who have played with it for years in the future? To what extent do such ideas change the buying behavior of the broader golf community?

Golf’s elites must ask themselves these questions, and at some point there must be an answer to these questions. After all, courses can’t continue to grow in all directions, and the discrepancy between amateur and professional will eventually be so great that perhaps a broad mass will feel disconnected from professional golf. And nobody really wants that. The first regulations on drivers have already been issued by the organizations, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

Categories
European Tour

“The 14 Club Challenge” on the European Tour – Viktor Hovland vs. Rory McIlroy

The “14 Club Challenge” demands precise play from the players of the DP World Tour (formerly: European Tour) despite a completely wrong choice of clubs. At Emirates Golf Club, DP World Tour stars Viktor Hovland and Rory McIlroy compete against each other on Hole 4, a 155-yards par-3. At the end of the challenge, there is a clear winner.

Only on the DP World Tour: Driver on a par-3?

A point is awarded for every tee shot that comes to rest on the green. The challenge: Each of the 14 clubs that the players have in their bags may be used a maximum of once. If one player uses his pitching wedge, it is unavailable for the rest of the game and for the other player. The longer the challenge runs, the more diffuse the choice of clubs becomes…

Categories
Highlights Tours

US Masters 2022: Scheffler, McIlroy, Woods – The records and statistics of the Major

At the US Masters 2022, Scottie Scheffler sets several records with his first major victory. Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods and others should not be missing from this list of records set or tied at the prestigious major.

Scottie Scheffler in outstanding form

Scottie Scheffler unstoppable! In recent weeks, hardly any professional on the PGA Tour could stand a chance against the Texan. In mid-February, the 25-year-old won for the first time since his rise on Tour in 2020 at the Phoenix Open. Fifty-seven days have passed since then and three more trophies have gone into the world number one’s trophy cabinet. He won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the WGC-Dell Match Play and now his first major with the 2022 US Masters. No one before him has managed the first four tournament wins in such a short span of time! The last time someone won four tournaments in six starts was Jason Day in 2015.

Four wins in one season is already a great achievement, but to win at least one Major and one WGC event highlights the exceptional form of Scottie Scheffler. There’s only one guy who’s done that, too. You will guess: Tiger Woods. The superstar, who made his comeback at the US Masters in 2022 after a serious car accident, was even able to achieve these results a total of eight (!) times in two periods of four seasons in a row – incredible! For the sake of completeness, however, it should be mentioned that greats such as Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus certainly had seasons with four tournament victories including majors, but the WGC events did not yet exist at that time (introduction in 1999).

Scheffler is also the sixth player to win the Major at Augusta National as the world number one. In doing so, the American does it like Ian Woosnam, who also won the US Masters in his first start as the world’s No. 1 golfer.

After an outstanding Friday, Scheffler had built a five-stroke lead in difficult conditions. The shared largest halfway lead at the Masters.

With his fourth victory, Scheffler now not only clearly leads the world ranking and the FedExCup, he also obviously cashed in a lot of prize money. In the meantime, the professional has earned over ten million US dollars with his results this season alone. This already puts him in sixth place in the ranking of prize money earned in a PGA Tour season. By the way, Jordan Spieth leads this list with just over twelve million dollars earned in his fabulous 2014/15 season with two major victories (Masters & Open) and Tour Championship (bonus not included). Scheffler, however, still has half the season and three majors to play and will probably climb up a few places in this ranking.

US Masters 2022: Rory McIlroy ties record

But enough about the Masters winner, others also set records at this major. Rory McIlroy ran hot on the final day, working his magic with flight partner Collin Morikawa at Augusta National. McIlroy’s closing 64, the only bogey-free round of the entire tournament, set the record for the best closing round at the Masters; in fact, it was the second-best round ever at one of the four majors for the Northern Irishman. It was a pity for the four-time major winner that he was already too far away from Scheffler before the final day and it was again nothing with the career Grand Slam for McIlroy.

On the final day, it was a duel between two players in good form with the better end for Scheffler. But Cameron Smith also has two victories this season (including the Players Championship) under his belt and has been playing incredibly consistent golf lately. However, the triple bogey at the 12th sank any hopes of winning the Masters at Rae’s Creek, and that after Smith had fought his way back in with a birdie at the hardest hole (11th). The three-stroke loss was the worst score on a hole in almost ten months for the Australian.

Previously, the Players Champion had carded a 68 in Round 1, although he conceded double stroke losses on holes 1 and 18. Only Ricky Fowler played a round of 68 or better including two double bogeys at the Masters.

Tiger Woods keeps series alive

It’s not a record yet, but Tiger Woods kept his streak of made cuts alive and could set a record next year. Despite his extreme suffering since his serious accident 14 months ago, the 46-year-old Hall-of-Famer made the cut at the 2022 US Masters for the 22nd time in a row.

On the weekend itself, the 15-time major winner was clearly feeling the strain and the strain, twice coming back into the clubhouse with 78 strokes. He had never needed so many in 92 rounds before to master Augusta National.