Many have claimed Rory McIlroy to be the most effective driver of the golf ball the sport has ever seen.
Others disagree, and people who do had a robust argument on Friday at The Okay Membership.
McIlroy hit solely 5 of 14 fairways throughout his second spherical of the Horizon Irish Open, as he discovered the quick grass simply as soon as on the again 9.
Everybody within the area this week has mentioned the significance of discovering the fairways on the 2006 Ryder Cup venue. The tough that traces these slender fairways is whispy and thick, which might shortly flip a birdie gap right into a tough one.
“You’ve bought to drive it effectively right here,” McIlroy mentioned in his pre-tournament press convention Wednesday. “The tough may be very thick, so there’s very a lot a premium on getting the ball in play off the tee.”
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“However then from there, it’s not the longest golf course on this planet, so you possibly can rating. However to me, it’s all about placing the ball in play off the tee right here this week as a result of the tough is fairly penal.”
On the par-4 seventeenth, a dogleg left that runs alongside the River Liffey, McIlroy pushed his tee shot proper of the golf green. His ball nestled in a whispy lie whereas bushes blocked out his shot to the inexperienced.
This errant tee shot marked his fourth consecutive missed fairway, and sadly for the Northern Irishman, he needed to pay a steep value. McIlroy carded a double-bogey six, which utterly negated a hole-out eagle he made on the earlier gap, the par-5 sixteenth.
Fortunately for him, the par-5 18th is among the best holes on the course. After lacking the golf green once more on the final gap—regardless of hitting a 361-yard drive—McIlroy managed to bounce again with a birdie, which dropped him to 2-under on the day.
He carded a 2-under 70 and sits at 5-under for the championship, eight pictures behind Jordan Smith of England and Shubhankar Sharma of India.
Ought to McIlroy make a transfer and attempt to contend, he’ll want his driver to cooperate.
On the very least, he might want to work out the kinks forward of the Ryder Cup in Rome. He has six extra aggressive rounds to take action as he heads to England for the BMW PGA Championship subsequent week.
Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Taking part in Via. You may comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko for extra golf protection. You should definitely take a look at @_PlayingThrough too.