McIlroy Unable to Match Walker Pace

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Rory McIlroy lies nine shots off the clubhouse lead after carding a four-over 74 in the first round of the US PGA Championship at Baltusrol.

The Northern Irishman started the final major of 2016 at the 10th hole and had three bogeys in his opening seven holes and no birdies during his round.

Jimmy Walker set the early pace with a five-under 65, while defending champion Jason Day shot 70.

Masters champion Danny Willett is among the late starters in New Jersey.

The Englishman is playing, in line with PGA tradition, with the two other major winners of this year, American Dustin Johnson, who won the US Open, and Open champion Henrik Stenson of Sweden.

McIlroy, the world number four, said before his opening round that the Baltusrol layout gave him a good chance of securing a third US PGA Championship, after winning the title in 2012 and 2014.

Playing alongside Australian Day and American Phil Mickelson, who pushed Stenson close at The Open earlier this month, McIlroy missed two birdie putts in his first two holes.

A duffed chip and miss from six feet led to his first bogey on the 13th and he dropped shots on the 14th and 16th after hitting his ball into greenside bunkers on both holes.

McIlroy missed a five-foot chance for birdie on the par-five 17th and a wild drive on the 18th, the only other par-five hole on the course, led to a par.

Day, who had only one practice round after catching a bug off his son and then spending Tuesday night in hospital after his wife suffered an allergic reaction, had three birdies and a bogey in his two-under round.

Mickelson, who briefly joined McIlroy at four over, battled back to one over with three birdies in five holes.

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Harrington Happy About Rio

Padraig Harrington is thrilled to be going and dreams of gold.

“I’m really looking forward to Rio. My whole family are going,” the 44-year-old Irishman said after a long session on the practice putting green on a sizzling hot and stormy Baltusrol, where the PGA Championship begins on Thursday.

“We’re busy getting our tickets organized for the second week that we’re there. It’s a big deal for us.”

Harrington, winner of the 2008 PGA Championship and two British Open titles (2007, 2008), accepted the honor of playing for Ireland after the withdrawals of four-times major champion Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell citing concerns over the Zika virus.

Later Shane Lowery also withdrew over Zika worries, opening the door for 297th-ranked Seamus Power to join Harrington in the 60-man Rio field as golf returns to the Olympic programme after an absence of 112 years.

World number one Jason Day of Australia, the defending PGA champion, and Americans Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth, ranked second and third, respectively, also bowed out from Rio consideration due to health concerns.

The mosquito-borne Zika virus, which the World Health Organization says is spreading rapidly in the Americas, can cause crippling defects in babies and has been linked to the neurological disorder Guillain-Barre in adults.

“I’m going down there to try and win. No doubt about it, I believe I can win,” said Harrington, who has slipped to 150th in the world rankings.

Harrington, like others who played at the Open at Royal Troon, are returning for the season’s final major with just one tournament week in between them in a tour season condensed to make room for the Olympic tournament.

Some players, including world number eight Adam Scott of Australia and South Africa’s world number 15 Louis Oosthuizen, said they opted out of the Rio Games for scheduling reasons.

Harrington said he had planned to play two majors and the Olympics this summer. “I wanted to do my preparation for all three and if I played well in one of those three would have a good chance of winning,” he said.

“It didn’t happen at the (British) Open. I’ve won three majors and I’m happy to take either,” he said about this week’s PGA or next month’s Summer Olympics.

“I could understand if you haven’t won a major, making that more of a priority. But I think an Olympic gold would add a lot to my career.”

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Firestone for Garcia and McIlroy

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Rory McIlroy will chase Sergio Garcia on Sunday in a role reversal from two weeks ago in LIverpool where the now Open champion was holding off the challenge from the man once knon as El Nino. 

At Hoylake Garcia chased McIlroy all the way before eventually finishing joint second, recording his 19th top-10 finish in his 64th major championship.

But the Spaniard has the opportunity to put that near-miss behind him by claiming his first World Golf Championship title at Firestone Country Club on Sunday, despite suffering from a lengthy weather delay in Akron.

Tee times had been brought forward several hours due to forecast thunderstorms, but the final group had just finished the 15th hole when the threat of lightning forced players off the course.

Garcia held a five-shot lead over McIlroy and Marc Leishman at the time, but when play eventually resumed three hours and 15 minutes later, the 34-year-old struggled to recapture his rhythm and had to battle to par the final three holes.

In contrast, McIlroy missed a good birdie chance on the 16th but picked up shots on the 17th and 18th to card a third round of 66 and finish 11 under, three behind Garcia, who returned a 67.

"I came here this week talking about wanting to just keeping the momentum going and not really dwell on The Open too much and keep moving forward and I have done that really well this week," McIlroy said. 

"I'm obviously really excited to give myself another chance to win a tournament tomorrow." 

"I drove it great at the Open as well and have been driving it great all year and that's why my results have been pretty good. Driving is the foundation of my game and if it's good it seems like everything feeds down from there and I've never driven the ball better than I am right now."

Leishman and world number one Adam Scott were two and three shots behind McIlroy respectively, the Australian pair having finished joint fifth together in the Open.

"It's great to see all the guys continue their good play," McIlroy added. "Sergio was chasing me down at Liverpool, I'm going to try and chase him down this week and we'll see what happens. It's a great leaderboard with a lot of good names and hopefully it will be a good battle tomorrow."

Justin Rose had been Garcia's closest challenger when he recovered from just his second bogey of the week on the eighth with birdies on the ninth and 10th, but then three-putted the 13th from 20 feet and did the same on the next, amazingly missing from no more than 12 inches.

The former US Open champion parred the final four holes either side of the delay to card a round of 70 and join Scott and Keegan Bradley on eight under, six off the pace.

Garcia had started the day with a three-shot lead after a sensational second round of 61, the Spaniard equalling the course record thanks to a back nine of just 27 shots which featured eight birdies, seven of them in succession from the 12th.

He was soon back into his stride when play resumed on Saturday, picking up shots on the second, fourth and sixth to reach the turn in 32.

The 11th was the only hole Garcia failed to birdie on the back nine on Friday, but the world number five made amends with a superb approach to two feet to move to 15 under par.

That was briefly good enough for a six-shot lead when McIlroy, who had also gone out in 32, missed from similar length on the 11th and followed that with a bogey on the 12th after failing to get up and down from a greenside bunker.

However, Garcia then carded his first bogey since the 12th hole of his opening round when he pulled his approach left of the 14th green, the siren sounding to suspend play after the final group had completed the 15th.

Defending champion Tiger Woods had already struggled to a 72 to lie one over par for the tournament, further reducing his slim chances of qualifying for the FedEx Cup play-offs.

The 14-time major winner needs the equivalent of third-place finishes here and in next week's US PGA Championship to move from 215th in the standings into the top 125.

Woods carded one birdie, one bogey and a double bogey on the sixth, where television commentators apologised after the 38-year-old was heard to tell photographers to "Give me a little f****** space" as he walked out of the rough.

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Rory's 64 Eclipsed by Sergio 61

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Rory McIlroy fired 64 strokes in round 2 of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, but was overshadowed by Sergio Garcia who completed his roun in 61 shots.  

The Spaniard remains 11 under for the tournament, three shots clear of Justin Rose.

Garcia had a birdie putt on the 18th to equal the course record – Tiger Woods has twice shot 61 – and few doubted he would fail with his 20ft opportunity based primarily on a stunning back nine.

He came home in just 27 shots with eight birdies in nine holes, including seven in succession. The only hole he didn’t break the regulation figure was the 11th.

He also managed 11 single putts in succession during his round. It was a magnificent homily to accuracy off the tee, exquisite ball-striking with his irons and wedges and a wonderful touch on the greens.

Garcia’s brilliance eclipsed all other contenders but McIlroy will be very pleased with his efforts. As a statement of intent and offering a portent of things to come his opening drive was eloquence personified, a 313-yard rip with the driver that scampered down the first fairway.

Following Thursday’s opening round of one under 69 the 25-year-old Northern Ireland golfer was keen to inject some early momentum into his quest for victory in a WGC-Bridgestone Invitational tournament that his Nike stable-mate and defending champion Tiger Woods has won eight times. He did just that with birdies at the first, second and third holes.

The person McIlroy was pursuing, at least initially, was Justin Rose as the Englishman continued to make measured progress with a largely stress-free second round to move to eight under over the difficult Firestone layout.

The 2013 US Open champion demonstrated a return to the calibre of golf that won him the Quick Loans National at Congressional Country Club and the Scottish Open.

Rose followed up his opening five-under 65 a blemish- free round, by signing for a 67 that contained four birdies and just a single dropped shot on the par four, 14th. Overnight leader Marc Leishman had an adventurous, one-under 69.

Woods, who in the past has reduced this tournament to a private benefit gig with his eight victories, could not hit a fairway and it required a host of single putts to rescue a one over 71, from the debris of some errant ball striking.

McIlroy has spoken recently about the confidence he has with his driver and he produced a wonderful display from the teeing ground.

Following the three birdies he had further chances on four and five but could not convert and it was from his first errant tee shot that he ran into a little trouble, compounding missing the fairway with a poor bunker shot from a greenside trap. He had to hole a nasty five-footer coming back just to make bogey.

It was his putter that rescued him at the seventh when he holed from 10ft for a par as his early progress threatened to dissipate almost as quickly as it materialised. McIlroy had played the front nine of Firestone’s South course – his back as he started on the 10th tee on Thursday – in one over, largely because of a double bogey on the eighth.

Yesterday it was an altogether more palatable experience, McIlroy maximising a fine approach shot by holing from 14ft for his fourth birdie of the round and to immediately recover the shot he had dropped on the last hole.

He missed from six feet on 11 for birdie but did well to get up and down for par at the 12th. He moved to five under on the 14th with his fifth birdie of the round and produced a miraculous par after a horrendously pushed tee shot on the 15th, the rescue completed with a 20ft par putt.

He finished largely as he had begun, this time though a brace of birdies on the 17th and 18th holes both on foot of thunderous drives and controlled wedges.

Graeme McDowell, who started on the 10th hole, is one over par for the tournament, after shooting a level par 70.

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McIlroy Opens Bridgestone with 69

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Rory McIlroy signed for a one-under par round of 69 at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone on Thursday.trailing the leader by five strokes.

Marc Leishman set the target on six-under in round one 

McIlroy carded a double-bogey on his penultimate hole which was come0nted for with a superb shot on the last hole, an eight iron stitched pinned to the fag that that got him back into red figures. 

“I drove the ball for the most part well, I got myself into trouble a couple of times which led to a double bogey and a bogey on my back nine – which was the front nine – but apart from that I felt I played really solid golf without doing anything too special,” he said afterwards.

Starting from the 10th, McIlroy opened with three pars before splitting the fairway on the 13th with a drive of 318 yards and hitting his approach to 10 feet to set up his first birdie.

The 25-year-old, who could reclaim top spot in the world rankings from Adam Scott this week, then holed from twice the distance on the 17th to reach the turn in 33 and almost chipped in for another birdie on the first.

McIlroy reached three under par with a two-putt birdie on the par-five second, only to promptly give that shot back on the next after three-putting from long range. Worse was to follow on the eighth when he pushed a drive miles right into heavy rough, finding the greenside bunker with his second and not exactly covering himself in glory before walking off with a six.

But a 340-plus drive straight down the middle of the ninth led to that closing birdie and while there was plenty of room for improvement, McIlroy felt his goal of kicking on from his win at Liverpool was still very much on track.

“I didn’t want any let down,” he explained. “And not just these two weeks, basically for the rest of the season. I’ve got myself in a good position in the FedEx Cup, I can try and get to number one again in the world rankings and there’s a Major still left to play. There’s a lot of golf still left this year, it’s great to win another Major, the Open Championship but I just want to keep going forward.”

Top nine

Ryan Moore and Charl Schwartzel are both one behind the leader on five under. The American Ryder Cup hopeful, Moore, carded a flawless five-under-par 65 as he followed up a good finish at Royal Liverpool with another eye-catching performance.

Moore is currently 14th in the US Ryder Cup points standings, with the top nine after next week’s US PGA Championship sealing a place on Tom Watson’s team for Gleneagles in September.

He was joined on five under by South African Charl Schwartzel, the former US Masters champion carding five birdies in his last eight holes, including four in a row from the fourth. Italian Francesco Molinari dropped his only shot of the day on the 17th to be round in 67, while Wales’s Jamie Donaldson was a shot behind on two under as he looked to cement his place on the Ryder Cup team.

Speaking about his run of birdies, Schwartzel said: “I think it’s the sort of golf course that maybe lends you to going on a run like that. The golf course is in such good shape, there are not many blades of grass out of place. This course can really frustrate you or you can be really happy with the way you played because there is no forgiveness.”

iger Woods was one under par after 14 holes of his opening round.

Graeme McDowell finished one over in a share of 46th place after a round of 71.

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