Rory McIlroy had already made seven birdies on the day and stood on the 17th tee with a tournament total of 12 under. He was on fire and relying on new swing changes to push himself up the leaderboard as he lapped Yas Links in Abu Dhabi.
Then disaster struck.
McIlroy found a bunker on the far right side of the green on the par-3 17th, but it wasn't much of a problem. But once McIlroy got into the trap, he didn't realize how little sand was under his ball. The lack of sand caused McIlroy's clubhead to fly over the bottom of the bunker, resulting in his second shot bouncing over the green and into the back of another trap. The ball landed on the downhill side of the left bunker on the green side, near the water. He hit a triple-bogey six.
“The club bounced back to me,” McIlroy said on Tuesday of his trials and tribulations.
“I kind of messed it up.”
At least he made a comeback with a birdie on the par-5 18th hole, posting a 5-under 67 for the second day in a row.
“I had a good shot at the end and made birdie there,” McIlroy said.
“So all you have to do is go outside. [on Saturday] Then try to get a fast start and get back on track. ”
Back in January, McIlroy was facing a narrow 10-stroke lead over Cameron Young at the halfway point of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic. McIlroy then shot a 9-under 63 in the third round, rocketing up the leaderboard and within striking distance. He went into the final round with a 2-under 70 and won by one with a final round of 2-under 70.
He hopes to repeat it again this week in the Middle East.
“That's up to me,” McIlroy said of what to do Saturday.
“I shot 63 on Saturday in Dubai this year, but to give myself a chance heading into Sunday I wanted to see what the score would be and do something similar, if not lower. I'm going to need a score. But I know it's there. I was 7 under through 13 holes today, so it's possible.”
McIlroy added that he would like the course to be “a little bit firmer.” That would make things difficult for the leader and increase the likelihood of a retreat into the field. Briton Paul Waring shot an 11-under 61 on Friday and is at 19 under, leading by five points after 36 holes. He broke the course record set by Tommy Fleetwood the day before. Fleetwood and three others are at 14 under.
McIlroy, on the other hand, was 10 under at the halfway point. Despite facing a tough disadvantage, the Northern Irishman is satisfied with his performance. He also said he feels “a little bit” more comfortable with the changes he's made.
“Sometimes with what I'm trying to do with my swing, the clubface opens up on the back touch, and it's hard to square it up from there,” McIlroy said.
“So I struggled a little bit today with the left-to-right wind, but overall I just wanted to go out and perform well and get a good score and still try to maintain the emotions I was feeling. I think my swing the last few weeks has been a good few days. ”
So far, McIlroy has performed well over 35 holes. But the par-3 17th was a big blot on his scorecard. I wish there was a little more sand under the golf ball.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through. Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.
