Showing posts with label Bay Hill Club and Lodge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bay Hill Club and Lodge. Show all posts

3/06/2015

Rory McIlroy Proves No Cadillac

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Rory McIlroy threw one of his clubs into a lake during his second round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship in Miami.

The Northern Irishman had just pulled his approach shot into the water on the par-five eighth hole - and sent his long iron after it in frustration.

McIlroy, 25, is attempting to recover from a first-round score of 73, which left him 11 shots off the lead.

His missed cut at last week's Honda Classic was his first since June 2014.

Inexcusable behaviour!

McIlroy had just recorded his third birdie of the day to get back to level par for the tournament when he pulled his approach to the par-five eighth - a hole he had eagled on Thursday - into the water.

And after a few seconds' thought the 25-year-old then hurled the offending club into the same stretch of water on his way to recording a six, his third bogey of the day.

McIlroy recovered to card a round of 70 to lie one under par.

"Frustration got the better of me," he told Sky Sports. "Following on from last week I feel like it's very close and to hit shots like that you get frustrated, but I shouldn't have did what I did.

"It all bottled up and had to let it go somehow and that's what happened. I don't feel good about doing it but I will hopefully have a new three iron on the way in the morning and be able to got out and play with another one.

"I wouldn't encourage kids at home to do the same thing."

It is not the first time McIlroy's frustrations have got the better of him. At the US Open in 2013 he apologised for throwing one club and leaning so hard on another during the final round that he bent the shaft out of shape.

And that came just months after he walked off the course midway through the second round of the Honda Classic, where he was defending champion, telling reporters he was in "a bad place mentally" before his management company issued a statement blaming toothache.

McIlroy missed the cut in the Honda Classic last week and struggled to an opening 73 at Doral, but looked to be getting back on track when he began his second round with two straight birdies.

However, the four-time major winner then bogeyed the third after driving into the water and three-putted the fourth before the frustrations of the course known as the 'Blue Monster' truly took their toll on the eighth.

McIlroy added on Sky Sports 4: "You can see I'm aiming left to try and cut it and it's been frustrating this week because the shots I want to cut I draw, and the shots I want to draw I cut. I'm just not quite there with the swing the way I want to and another ball in the water wasn't good.

"(I have) another couple of rounds just to try and find a little bit of rhythm. I'm a little behind at the minute but it seems like the scores are quite spread out so if I can get off to a decent start tomorrow you never know."

Shane Lowry finished one over after a second round of 74.

Graeme McDowell finished two over a second successive 73.


2/28/2015

McIlroy to Miss Honda Cut

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Rory McIlroy is set to miss the cut at the Honda Classic after posting a four-over 74 in a rain-affected second round.

In a round twice interrupted by bad weather, McIlroy carded five bogeys and just one birdie to move to seven-over, four shots outside of the projected cut. Beginning the day three-over, the Northern Irishman opened with a bogey at the 10th and dropped another shot at the par-five 18th after finding the water with his second shot.

McIlroy missed birdie putts at two and three, before making his only gain of the round by firing his tee-shot at the par-three fifth to within five feet of the hole.

The 2012 winner on the Champion Course then found the bunker at successive holes to card back-to-back bogeys, and added another at the last after three-putting from 50-feet.

The 25-year-old had arrived at PGA National full of confidence after victory at last month's Dubai Desert Classic extended his run to seven top-two European Tour finishes in a row, and was expecting another good weekend in Florida despite an opening round 73. 

"I don't like missing cuts," the world No 1 said. "You want to be playing on the weekend, and I'm not going to be playing which is not nice. 

"I guess after coming off a three-week break, I felt, I wouldn't say rusty, but just not quite on top of my game yesterday. Today I felt like I was trying to get something going and couldn't.

"Coming off three weeks off and playing in conditions like these, it sort of shows you where your game's at. I've just got to regroup and put some work in and get ready for Miami next week."

Failing to qualify for the weekend ends a run of 22 consecutive cuts made on the PGA Tour for McIlroy, who hadn't missed a cut since last year's Irish Open and has reached the third round of every tournament he's featured at in America since the 2012 US Open. 

McIlroy will continue his preparations for April's Masters at next week's World Golf Championships event at Doral, before making his first-ever start in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill a fortnight later.