Rory McIlroy At the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, he cruised to 6 under through 14 holes.
However, he quickly stumbled on the back nine and made three consecutive bogeys. It completely derailed his entire round.
But things only got worse for the Northern Irish. He hit a bogey-six on the par-5 seventh at Spyglass Hill, but ended up making a triple-bogey eight after the round. He had shot a 3-under 69, but improved to a 1-under 71.
McIlroy was given a two-stroke penalty for making an illegal drop. He had to take an unplayable lie due to a bad tee shot, which is why he had to drop in the first place.
Rules Officer Mark Dasbabek explained what happened And why was it a penalty?
“Even as a reliever behind the line, you go from where the ball is to the flagstick and back to the back of the line,” Dusvabek said on the Golf Channel broadcast.
“But you have to drop the ball on that line, and the ball can roll in any direction, even one club’s length forward. “Rory on that line is one club’s length away. It fell a length wide. It would be the wrong spot and a two-stroke penalty.”
PGA Tour referee Stephen Cox gave McIlroy some tough news after his round. The four-time major champion withstood the challenge and approached it as a professional.
After the round, McIlroy spoke to the media. At the time, he clarified his position on what happened on the par-5 seventh, explaining how he didn’t realize he had dropped the ball by mistake.
“What I didn’t know was that in January 2023, the rules changed. Before, you could go back online and take a length of the club on either side,” McIlroy said. “It changed in 2019 to allow that to happen. “We didn’t know that that rule was going to change again in 2023. I remembered the 2019 rule that changed and dropped it, so I received a two-stroke penalty.”
It appeared to be a harmless mistake on McIlroy’s part, but it further derailed his round. After such a strong start, he didn’t need that ending for him to have confidence moving forward. He is scheduled to play Friday’s round at Pebble Beach Golf Links alongside Ludwig Oberg.
Savannah Lee Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough On all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirls and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
