McIlroy’s driving wobble
On Saturday Rory McIlroy’s driving accuracy slipped, with commentators saying his tee shots produced the worst driving accuracy in the field and several left‑side misses caused approach problems. ( ) Analysts contrasted that Saturday wobble with his earlier rounds where his overall tee‑to‑green numbers and short‑game work looked much stronger. (nytimes.com)
Rory McIlroy’s six-shot Masters lead was gone by Saturday night after a 1-over 73 turned Augusta’s third round into a tie game. (golfchannel.com) McIlroy started the day at 12-under and finished 54 holes at 11-under, tied with Cameron Young after bogeys at the 1st and 17th and a double bogey at the 11th. Young shot 65 to erase the gap. (golfchannel.com) The driver was the change. ESPN’s tournament page listed McIlroy at 50 percent driving accuracy through three rounds, and Sporting News reported that after Saturday he had missed more fairways than any other player who made the cut. (espn.com, sportingnews.com) Those misses kept showing up on the left side, which changed his next shot. Golfweek reported that McIlroy went straight to the practice range after the round to work on his swing before Sunday. (golfweek.usatoday.com) That wobble looked different from the first two days. McIlroy opened with 67 on Thursday despite hitting only five fairways, then shot 65 on Friday to build what the PGA Tour called a record six-shot halfway lead at the 90th Masters. (pgatour.com, golfchannel.com) On Thursday, the PGA Tour said McIlroy “struggled off the tee and hit just five fairways,” but still posted 67 with birdies late at the 13th, 14th and 15th. That was the version of his game that had covered for loose driving earlier in the week. (pgatour.com) Saturday was harder to escape because Augusta was yielding scores. The PGA Tour said the field’s third-round average was 70.63, a Masters record for Saturday, and ESPN noted 10 players shot 68 or better. (pgatour.com, espn.com) McIlroy did steady himself with birdies at 14 and 15, enough to regain a share of the lead before the late bogey at 17 sent him to Sunday still level with Young. (golfchannel.com) Afterward, McIlroy said, “didn’t quite have it today” and added that he would need to play better to win on Sunday. The tournament that looked nearly over after 36 holes was back to 18 holes. (asaptext.com, nytimes.com)
