The Irish Golf Club Gazette

8/16/2015

Can Rory Break Records

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Rory McIlroy requires a record nine-shot recovery to win the 97th edition at Whistling Straits and overcome Jason Day heading who leads into the final day.

5. Bob Tway

Greg Norman held the lead going into the final round of every major championship in 1986, and the PGA Championship at the Inverness Club was no exception.

But the Australian was usurped in Ohio by Bob Tway, who overturned a four-stroke deficit to clinch his only major title, before later being named PGA Player of the Year.

Tway's comeback began with Norman's double-bogey at the 11th, and ended by holing from a bunker at the last to win by two shots.

4. Keegan Bradley

Despite trailing by just a single stroke at the start of the final round, Bradley found himself five shots off the lead with three holes remaining.

A gain at 16 followed by a 35-foot birdie on the 17th, coupled with three consecutive bogeys by Jason Dufner, forced a play-off between the Americans at the Atlanta Athletic Club in 2011.

Bradley wasted no time in the three-hole showdown, triumphing by one-shot after a birdie at the first. "I can't believe it, I feel so proud," the 25-year-old said afterwards - and rightly so.

3. Bob Rosburg

Bob Rosburg trailed Jerry Barber by six shots going into the final round at the Minneapolis Golf Club in 1959.

Despite Rosburg carding the best round of the final day with 66, Barber still looked in control with three holes to play.

Three pars would have been enough for Barber, but two bogeys meant he ended the tournament one stroke behind Rosburg.

2. Steve Elkington

Ernie Els set a three-day record at the PGA Championship in 1995 with 197, but was unable to prevent Steve Elkington from lifting the Wanamaker Trophy on the final day.

Elkington fired a final-day 64, which remains the greatest closing round by a PGA champion to date, and he was joined in a play-off by Colin Montgomerie when the Scot holed an 18-foot birdie at the last.

As if Elkington's 64 wasn’t enough, he buried a 25-foot putt for birdie on the first extra hole for victory.

1. John Mahaffey

Mahaffey's seven-shot comeback in 1978 remains the greatest in the history of the PGA Championship.

Tom Watson offered a helping hand, struggling to a final-round 73, while Mahaffey ripped through the course with a stunning 66.

A four-foot miss by Jerry Pate at the last forced a play-off, which Mahaffey won with a birdie on the second to avenge his 18-hole play-off defeat at The Open three years earlier.

Rory Retains Whistling Chance

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Rory McIlroy was frustrated at being unable to build on a "dream start" to his third round at the 97th PGA Championship, as his lengthy injury lay-off caught up with him at Whistling Straits.

The defending champion was nine shots off the lead at the halfway stage following a pair of erratic 71s, but he made early strides up the leaderboard when he birdied the second and fourth and then holed a monster 65-foot putt for eagle at the fifth.

But a poor wedge cost him a shot at the next, and he also bogeyed the eighth before mixing four birdies with two further shots on the inward half to post a 68 - six under for the tournament.

McIlroy will have to break the tournament comeback record if he is to retain his title on Sunday, and he admitted his lack of competitive golf while recovering from ankle ligament damage over the last seven weeks had hampered his chances.

"I got off to a dream start, really," said McIlroy, who had not played since the US Open in June after suffering his ankle injury playing football with friends on July 4. "To be four under through five, having not birdied the first and third, was a bonus.

"I knew six was a chance and the way the wind was on seven and eight, they weren't playing as tough as they had been earlier in the week. If you get a good tee shot down on nine, you've got a wedge in your hand there and all of a sudden you're thinking about shooting 30 on the front nine and then you've got some chances on the back nine.

"But to give those shots away again on six and eight, you really have to battle to shoot four under in the end. I guess that probably shows just a lack of competitiveness considering this is the first week back in a few weeks.

"But really positive signs out there. Hitting the ball great. I putted much better today thankfully. So if I keep showing improvement each and every day like I have done, it's a good sign going into the rest of the season."

The 26-year-old conceded that his chances of lifting the Wanamaker Trophy for the third time were remote, but he is refusing to hand over his title without a fight.

"It's all about setting a realistic goal and target," McIlroy added. "I know that the way the back nine's playing there, the leaders could be 14, 15 under by the time the day ends. So, that would leave me eight or nine shots back.

"In the back of your mind, you still think you have a chance, because that's what your competitive nature tells you. But if you're looking at it realistically, I want to go out there tomorrow and shoot the best score that I've shot this week.

"I've stood still a little on Thursday and Friday, but definitely improved today and you want to improve on that again tomorrow. If I do that, I think that, as a whole, the week would be somewhat of a success. It wouldn't be quite what I wanted, but as I said, I can take positives from it and move on."

8/15/2015

Rory Furious on Friday

Rory McIlroy reflected on a day of missed opportunities after settling for a second consecutive 71 at the 97th PGA Championship, while Jordan Spieth went four shots better at the halfway stage.

The defending champion was determined to take advantage of the benign early conditions at Whistling Straits and make strides up the leaderboard, but he managed only pars at his first six holes before finally getting a birdie putt to drop at the 16th.

McIlroy was then furious with himself for scrapping his way to a double-bogey six at the 18th, but he got both shots back with one shot at the long second as he chipped in for a galvanising eagle.

He holed from eight feet for birdie at the sixth, but he bogeyed the next after pulling his tee shot in greenside rough before McIlroy parred in to remain two under for the tournament.

On a day when Japan's Hiroshi Iwata equalled the lowest score in major history with a 63 and playing partner Jordan Spieth shot 67, McIlroy admitted his short-game was not up to scratch following his seven-week lay-off with an ankle injury.

"I felt like tee to green I hit the ball pretty well, I'm probably just not as sharp with the short game as I would like to be," the world No 1 said. "It was good to get the two shots back that I dropped on 18 and I gave myself good chances on the third and fifth, but did not take them.

"There's plenty of chances out there and if I can convert a few hopefully there is a low score in me.

"I felt like I played better than what the score reflected, so I'm a little bit annoyed. I felt like I should have got that ball up and down on seven and then I had a great chance on eight for birdie and didn't take that. A couple of days in a row where I haven't finished the round of golf the way I wanted to.

"I don't know if it's rust or I just didn't putt well, so maybe just work on that a little bit before I tee off tomorrow and it would be great to hole a few more putts, because I feel like I'm giving myself plenty of chances.

"Probably one of the most surprising things about yesterday is how quickly I got back into the mindset of tournament golf and being aggressive. That hasn't really been an issue, it's just being a bit more efficient, whenever you give yourself chances, take them, and be able to get it up and down when you put yourself out of position."

McIlroy now has his work cut out to hang onto his world No 1 ranking ahead of Spieth, who enjoyed a run of four birdies in six holes mid-round as he moved smoothly to six under for the tournament.

The highlight of Spieth's round was a superb bunker escape that found the hole for an unlikely birdie at the 18th, and he was delighted with another good day's work in his bid to become only the third player in history to win three majors in a year.

"We are freerolling now," Spieth joked after making the cut in the tournament for the first time at the third attempt. "I'm just happy to be back in contention and position. If I'd had a bit of a lull today it would have been too hard to make up.

"With a couple of chip-ins for the week and really smart course management and good speed control, we have been able to hold ourselves in there. But in order to keep shooting the rounds like today, I'm going to need to drive the ball a little bit better and make a few more putts, which are really the two keys for me this weekend, because it's just going to get more challenging with pin locations and firmness of greens."

On his holed bunker shot for birdie at 18, Spieth's 16th chip-in of the season, he added: "It's arguably the best of the year given the position it was in. It was a great spark to get things going, get a little confidence, a little pep in my step.

"I feel good. I've got a chance to win a major championship. Just thinking about that gets you enough adrenaline that there won't be any issues. I noticed last year for the first time I felt fatigue and felt like I had overworked and kind of burned out the end of the year, as we had to go through the four play-off events without a break and then into the Ryder Cup.

"This year I've done a better job of when I take time off, when you limit the practice coming back, how to prepare. As far as mentally in this position, the way the year's gone, I approach each event as if it's the only event of the year when I stand on the first tee. That gets me through it.

"I'm sure at the end of this year, it will be nice to sit back and hang the clubs up for a couple weeks, but until then we have got a lot to play for."

8/14/2015

Rory Recovers After Wet Start

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Rory McIlroy overcame a nervy start to open the defence of his PGA Championship title with an encouraging one-under 71 at Whistling Straits.

In his first competitive round since the US Open, the world No 1 hit back from a three-putt bogey at the first with a birdie at the next and missed good chances at three and four before producing a stunning par-save from shallow water at the fifth hole.

McIlroy pulled a seven-iron left of the green with his third to the par-five, but he rolled up his right trouser leg, splashed out to 12 feet and calmly knocked in the putt to stay at level par.

He couldn't avoid a bogey after missing the fairway at the eighth, but he responded with a pure approach to four feet to set up a birdie at nine and a huge drive and an eight-iron into the long 11th yielded a comfortable two-putt for birdie.

McIlroy failed to convert mid-range birdie putts on each of the next four greens, but he got one to drop after pitching to six feet at the 16th before he was berating himself for pushing his approach to the last into thick rough, from where he played a poor chip and two-putted for bogey.

But he reflected on a good day's work in tough, blustery conditions, and he had no concerns with his left ankle after completing his recovery from the ligament damage he suffered during a friendly game of football with his friends just before the Scottish Open early last month.

And he was delighted with his highlight of the day at the fifth, where his main worry was getting his feet wet.

"The only thing I was trying not to do was get my feet wet, because if the water gets through this shoe, then the tape [on his left ankle] gets wet and then that would be annoying or uncomfortable for the rest of the day," McIlroy said.

"It was a little bit deeper on the right side, so I just rolled my right trouser leg up and it was fine. I just had to remember to hit it hard. And I was very fortunate to escape with a par there.

"I think anything under par this afternoon was a decent score. I thought trying to shoot something under 70 was realistic. I sort of had a chance to do that after birdieing the 16th. I missed a good chance there on 17. Unfortunate bogey on the last, I guess. Just hit a 3-iron and held it up a little bit too much into the wind and leaked it right."

McIlroy's 71 was matched by playing partner and rival for the world No 1 spot Jordan Spieth, the Masters and US Open champion looking to become only the third player after Ben Hogan and Tiger Woods to win three majors in a year.

Spieth followed 10 straight pars with a three-putt bogey on the 11th, but chipped in on the next and also birdied the 16th.

"We really battled back after 10 and 11, which were disappointing holes for me, to salvage an under par round and really stay in this tournament," the 22-year-old said. "If I didn't get that good break on 12, it could have been a different story the rest of the round."

8/13/2015

Rory Has Strait Chance - McGinley

Paul McGinley expects four-time major champion Rory McIlroy to be firmly in contention for this week's 97th PGA Championship.

McIlroy will return to play his first tournament since rupturing an ankle ligament six weeks ago, but McGinley has backed the 26-year-old's decision to compete at Whistling Straits.

"I think he can contend no doubt," said McGinley.

"He's the world number-one player, he's confident, he's had a good few weeks practice, his game is in good shape, and the golf course suits him.

"He's proven in the past that coming back form a big lay-off doesn't really affect him, he can come back and hit the ground running. But coming back from a serious injury, it will be interesting to see how it all unfolds for him.

"Steve McGregor [McIlroy's fitness trainer] has done a great job on him. He's very highly respected within the game and within this industry knowing exactly what fitness is about.

"He couldn't have been in better hands in terms of this rehab with Steve. I'd say he's in good shape but is he going to be competitively sharp? That's going to be the question."

8/16/2015

Can Rory Break Records

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