If you saw how Rory McIlroy birded the 18th hole with a player on Thursday, he'll remember his closing for quite some time.
After missing a short grass again from the tee, McIlroy's ball settled on the pine straw on the right side of the fairway. With the water on the left and plenty of trees in his way, McIlroy seemed doomed, or even worse.
But then he stopped his incredible recovery and hit a punch shot that kept the fairway squealing seven feet of green pins. He then used that putt for the seventh birdie of the day, closing off a 5-under 67 that missed 10 fairways.
“It's a better place than leaving the tee, so I was just trying to cut three trees into the wind to get to the fairway. But yeah, that's one of them, you hit it there, all of that has been sort of clean up over the years, and you just want a backswing and a gap, and I had both of them.”
“Just sing five irons around the green front, make four and go out of there. It was a bonus to pick it up on the green and the hole.
McIlroy missed most of the tee shot to the right and did so seven times. However, he only made two bodies, so fortune seemed to be bounce back down the Northern Ireland road.
“I certainly didn't drive it the way I wanted. I didn't hit it on as many fairways as I wanted. Yeah, I think I can get away a bit because the Greens are so receptive. I can't get away with it for the rest of the week, McIlroy said.
“But I'm trying to push this cut shot into play. The immediate missing from the tee on top of the hole is far better than the missing left. You just slam this cut into the wind and obviously you don't need to hit it either.”
McIlroy will sit down from a single shot with the lead held by 2009 US Open champions Lucas Glover, Camilo Villegas and JJ Spaun.
Jack Mirco is a golf staff writer who plays SB Nation. Follow him with x @jack_milko.
