McIlroy vents on Bay Hill: "It's like crazy golf. You just don't get rewarded for good shots"
Arnold Palmer, founder of Bay Hill Resort and Lodge
RORY MCILROY lashed the “crazy golf” course set up after he finished six shots behind Scottie Scheffler in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.
The Holywood star led by two strokes after an opening 65 and was nine-under for the tournament mid-way through his second round.
But after scrambling to a 72 on Friday, he closed with a brace of 76s to finish tied for 13th on one-over-par, snapping a wedge in two during last night’s attritional final round.
“I feel punch drunk, to be honest,” said McIlroy, who admits he needs a day off today to “regroup” and repair his battered confidence for The Players,
“The weekend, it's like crazy golf. You just don't get rewarded for good shots.
“Like I'm venting here and I'm frustrated and whatever. I think as well the frustration is it's a carbon copy of what's happened the last three years here.”
Just two players broke 70 on Sunday and only four broke par.
“I started off really, really well with a 66 or 65,” McIlroy said. "Friday afternoon conditions got a little tougher. Then over the weekend it's sort of been the same stuff.
“So three years in a row it's sort of been start off, lead the golf tournament, then you just sort of regress and come back to the field each and every day. Yeah, it's frustrating. It's hard to keep your patience out there.”
McIlroy played in the final round with his old stablemate Graeme McDowell, who endured his own frustrations, shanking a bunker shot 25 yards over the green at the par-five 16th en route to a seven and a closing 76 that left them tied 13th on one-over, costing the Portrush man a place in The Open at St Andrews.
The four-time major champion played his final 45 holes in 10-over par and while he hit progressively fewer fairways each day — 11 on Thursday, 10 on Friday, seven on Saturday and six in the final round — he warned organisers there’s a reason why just four of the world’s top 10 teed it up in Orlando.
“There’s a lot of guys who stayed away this week to get ready for next week,” McIlroy said. “The Players is such a big event - a $20 million purse.
"The four majors are sacred in this game, but it's very close to being among them and players don't want to feel like they’ve been beat up going there.
"As I said, I just need a day off tomorrow to forget about what's happened this week and then just sort of focus on next week.”
Despite his complaints, it’s telling that all 28 of his professional wins have come with a winning score in the double-digits under par and struggling to hit greens from deep rough and then being made look foolish on lightning fast greens is not good for his confidence.
“The way the conditions are, it makes you feel as if you're not playing as good as you are,” he complained. “Like I'm playing good. I'm hitting good shots. I'm swinging the club well.
"I'm chipping well. I'm putting well. But it can knock your confidence whenever the conditions are like this.
“I'm certainly playing better than shooting 8-over over the weekend. It’s just a matter of trying to regroup and forget about this week, and next week's going to be a completely different test.”
He added: “I don't mind golf courses being penal when you miss, but it's not rewarding good shots. I think that's where it starts to get across the line.”
Seamus Power falls to 50th in the world
McIlroy falls one spot to sixth in the world as Scheffler leapfrogs him into fifth.
The 25-year-old American hit the ball better than the rest of the field from tee to green and was rewarded with a cheque for $2,160,000 and top spot in the FedEx Cup standings.
He had enough with a level par 72 — the highest final round score by a winner of a non-major since Jon Rahm at the 2020 Memorial Tournament — to win for the second time in three starts and admitted conditions were tough.
"I thought today, after the way yesterday went, I thought they'd take it a little bit easier on the golf course,” Scheffler said. “
But the setup was harder today than it was yesterday, which surprised me a little bit.
"Kind of went into today thinking I need to shoot maybe a couple under, and it turns out even was good enough. The way the greens are, making putts out here is so hard.
"There's not a lot of friction on the greens, and with the way the wind is blowing, any little bit of a gust has such an extreme effect on the golf ball. It's so difficult."
Pádraig Harrington tied for 42nd on seven-over after a 73 and goes to 227th in the FedEx Cup as McDowell jumped to 131st, just shy of the top 125 who will retain their cards.
After missing his third cut in a row, Séamus Power falls three spots to 50th in the world with three weeks to go before the qualification cut off for the Masters.
Down to 23rd in the FedEx Cup, Power will play this week’s Players Championship but he’s likely skip the Valspar Championship before trying to secure his Masters place in the final counting WGC Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin.
