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.

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McIlroy Cadillac Follows Honda Cut

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Rory McIlroy believes missing the cut in last week’s Honda Classic has given him the "kick in the backside" he needed ahead of the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral.

McIlroy failed to make the weekend on his 2015 PGA Tour debut at PGA National after posting scores of 73 and 74 in the opening two rounds.

However, the world No 1 feels that could be something of a blessing in disguise following the lengthy weather delays which resulted in a Monday finish and the work it highlighted he needed to do on his game.

"I could have approached it two ways," said McIlroy at his pre-tournament press conference in Miami.

"I could have got really down on myself and wondered where that had come from or thought this was the first event after a three-week break and there were things that need to be sharper.

"Sometimes you need a little kick in the backside to make you realise what you need to do. I was disappointed but I feel like it has given me clarity on what I needed to do on my game going forward.

"It was my mum's birthday on the Friday night so we went out for a nice dinner and then got back to work on Saturday."

McIlroy admitted he struggled to play his usual controlled draw in the wind last week but appeared to have quickly ironed out the problems after shooting a 63 to win a pro-member event at Seminole Golf Club on Monday.

The 25-year-old Northern Irishman will play in the Arnold Palmer Invitational in a fortnight's time before fully turning his attention to trying to complete the career grand slam with victory in the Masters in April, although he will take a "social" trip to play Augusta with his father and some friends next week.

"There is always excitement and anticipation and hype surrounding Augusta and I feel it regardless whether I am going in there as favourite or under the radar," McIlroy said. "It's the first major of the year and really the start of the golfing season for the general public.

"Right now I'm taking it week by week. After Bay Hill I will start to think about it more and every practice session will be looking ahead at the shots I need.

"I think the best way to go in is to have confidence but sometimes if you go in with low expectations that can help as well. If things were to go the right way at Augusta I would not care if I had gone in there with two wins or two missed cuts."

McIlroy will play alongside two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson in the first two rounds at Doral as well as Sweden’s Henrik Stenson.

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Kevin Phelan Leads Africa Open

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Kevin Phelan continued his impressive form by taking a one shot clubhouse lead at the Africa Open following an opening round 67.

The Irishman, who finished tied for second at the Joburg Open last week, negotiated the blustery conditions at the East London Golf Club superbly to sit five under.

Starting on the back nine, Phelan dropped his only shot on his second hole, the par four 477 yard 11th.

But the 24 year old responded in emphatic fashion with six birdies, including three consecutively from the fifth, the last of which was completed when he escaped from behind the trees following a disappointing tee shot.

Richard Bland and David Howell, also second last week, are leading the chase following four under par 68s, the former out in front before Phelan's superb late surge.

The Englishman produced three birdies on the front and back nine, but two dropped shots either side of the turn hampered his progress.

Bland said: “I had a little bit of a wobble through the middle, but I bounced back well. I hit a lovely shot into the 12th and made a good putt. On 14 today I hit driver, gap wedge and managed to take advantage of it. It was nice to finish strong.”

Bland would have slipped two off the lead if he had not produced an excellent chip shot to aid a putt for par on the last after over-hitting his approach.

Fellow countryman Howell collected a shot on his second and, despite cancelling that out on the next, four more gains helped his cause.

He said: “I played well and kept the ball in play. I think anything in the 60s is something to be delighted with.”

Scot David Drysdale, another early leader, and Englishman Matthew Fitzpatrick were also among four players two shots off the lead.

Drysdale made a brief charge with an action-packed opening six holes, eagling the par five 509 yard first before collecting three birdies and a bogey, but failed to continue that hot streak and dropped a second shot on the 13th.

Fitzpatrick, starting on the back nine, was first out and his only blemish arrived on his penultimate hole, the eighth, which was the first of two consecutive bogies for Shaun Norris. 

With South Africans winning this event on all five occasions, Norris was leading the home charge on two under after a mixed round that also consisted of six birdies and a double bogey.

Andy Sullivan, aiming to make it a hat-trick of victories in co-sanctioned events this year after winning the South Africa Open and Joburg Open, struggled with a level par 72 with five birdies and the same amount of bogies.

The in-form Englishman, despite being five shots off the lead, will take heart from the fact that he produced a level par opening round last week at the Royal Johannesburg & Kensington Golf Club and still went on to win the event. 

Darren Clarke and Damien McGrane carded rounds of 72.

Michael Hoey and Peter Lawrie finished Thursday on five over par rounds of 77.

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Classic Harrington Wins Honda

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Padraig Harrington overturned a four-shot final day deficit to snatch a dramatic victory at the second play-off hole of a rain-delayed Honda Classic.

After bad weather had forced the tournament into a fifth day, Harrington, without a PGA Tour title since a two-stroke win at the 2008 PGA Championship, sank a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th to finish level on six-under with rookie Daniel Berger and force a play-off.

The pair both two-putted the first extra hole at the 18th for par, before Harrington nailed his tee-shot at the 17th to within five-feet of the hole as Berger found the hazard. With the American only able to double-bogey, Harrington took two attempts from five feet to end his title drought and book his ticket to next month's Masters. 

Earlier, Harrington had struck four birdies in a row to move in to the clubhouse lead, missing a 10-foot putt at the 15th for a fifth successive gain. The Irishman had lost his advantage with a double-bogey at the penultimate hole when his tee-shot flew into the water hazard, but sank a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th to force a play-off.

Berger, nine shots adrift heading in to the final round, had fired back-to-back birdies to close with an impressive six-under 64. 

Poulter, searching for a first stroke-play win in America, opened the day by rolling in a birdie at the 8th before missing an 11-foot putt for a further gain at the following hole.

Reaching the turn two clear, the world No 36 opened up the top of the leaderboard with a double-bogey at the 11th, finding the water with his second shot and then two-putting from 15-feet.

The Englishman was unfortunate again at the 13th when, from 120 yards, his second shot from the fairway bunker rattled the flag and spun away, with the resulting 15-foot birdie putt rolling alongside the hole.

Things went from bad to worse for Poulter at the next when, after taking a drop out of water following a wayward tee-shot, his third shot from the dirt ricocheting off a palm tree and ended back in the lake. After seeing his fifth shot fall in to a deep bunker, Poulter had to settle for triple-bogey.

With others faltering around him, Poulter ended positively with back-to-back birdies to end tied-third alongside British duo Russell Knox and Paul Casey. 

Overnight joint-leader Casey picked up an early birdie at the ninth, before dropping shots with an eight-foot missed putt at 11 and a tee-shot into a bunker at 14. Needing to pick up a stroke at the 18th to move joint-leader, Casey played his third shot out of the bunker to within 20-feet of the hole but saw his birdie-putt slow up inches short. 

Despite carding three bogeys in his final round, Knox ended strongly to post a two-under 68, while Jamie Donaldson made three late gains to finish a further shot back, with a three-putt from 50-feet at the 16th his only blemish.

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Phelan on Fast Track in Joburg

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Kevin Phelan went within two strokes of his first victory as a professional and, one third of a world ranking point away from winning a coveted ticket to July's Open Championship at St Andrews.

At least the rising Waterford star clinched his place in this week's Africa Open in East London with the sparkling final-round 66 on Royal Johannesburg's East Course, ensuring his best finish in 18 months as a pro in a five-way tie for second on 15-under at the Joburg Open, two behind Andy Sullivan.

The top three not already exempt for The Open qualified for St Andrews but in the event of a tie, the positions go to the highest world-ranked players. In this instance, English duo David Howell (WR 158) and Anthony Wall (WR 312), the latter was .2729 of a point ahead of Phelan (WR 511) in last Monday's rankings.

Still, the €80,600 cheque Phelan banked yesterday, when added to the €11,250 he won in December's Alfred Dunhill Championship, eased the 24-year-old inside the top-50 in the Race to Dubai.

He's played just three events since losing his European Tour card last year, a share of third at October's Hong Kong Open being his best result since turning pro after the 2013 Walker Cup. Phelan finished 129th on the 2014 Order of Merit then missed out on his card in 65th at Q-School.

So the opportunity to play again this week is a massive boost for the rock-solid Irishman, giving him a chance to build on momentum gained.

"I was just plodding along the first three days and played some nice golf and didn't hole many putts," Phelan said. "But I got the putts to drop on the front nine today and am delighted with how I played."

A closing 66 landed Englisman Sullivan (28) his second win this year in Johannesburg after his maiden success in January's South African Open. South Africans Wallie Coetsee and Jaco Van Zyl also tied second.

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