McIlroy fights back from nightmare start but falls further behind Scheffler in Atlanta
Rory McIlroy at the US Open. Picture USGA
Rory McIlroy made an incredible comeback from a nightmare start to keep hopes of a third FedEx Cup win on life support at the Tour Championship.
The Holywood star racked up a triple bogey seven after driving out of bounds during some heavy rain at the first, then bogeyed the short second to fall 10 shots behind FedEx Cup leader Scottie Scheffler under the staggered start.
But he played the remaining 16 holes in seven under par, mixing another three bogeys with eight birdies and an eagle three at sixth where holed a 35-yard pitch.
His three-under 67 left him tied sixth on seven-under, eight shots behind Scheffler, who finished with three birdies for a 65 to lead by five shots from Xander Schauffele on 15-under.
Yeah, I got off to the worst start possible. We got a little unfortunate that we teed off in that big downpour earlier in the day. I tried to guide sort of this little peeler into the fairway at the 1st and complete double-crossed, body stopped.
“So, yeah, not the best way to start, but battled back well,” McIlroy said. “The golf course is really soft and really gettable, so I knew there was a lot of holes out there that you could birdie.
“I knew my game was good, it was just one of those things. But not the ideal way to start, but proud of how I bounced back from that. I would have been happy just to get back to even par after the first few holes, but to shoot three-under was great.”
McIlroy has overcome bad starts before but while giving Scheffler six shots under the staggered start is a different story, he’s not giving up.
“I won the Deutsche Bank a few years ago. I was 4-over through three in Boston and ended up winning that tournament,” he said. “It's not like I haven't done it before. But as you said, it's different when you are giving strokes back.
“I sort of thought of Tom Kim a few weeks ago in Greensboro. He started with a quad and ended up going on to win the golf tournament.
“You know, and it is possible. Anything can be done. I'm just really proud of how I fought back today.”
On the DP World Tour, Clandeboye’s Jonathan Caldwell fired his first sub-70 round since March to lead the Irish challenge in the Omega European Masters in Switzerland.
The Ulsterman (38) has made just four of 21 cuts this year, but he found form at Crans-sur-Sierre yesterday, knocking in five birdies in a 68 to share 32nd on two-under-par.
He’s tied for 32d, six shots behind South Africa’s Thriston Lawrence and Spain’s Alejandro Cañizares, who shot eight-under 62s to head the field by two strokes.
David Carey made a spectacular eagle two at the 324-yard sixth, ripping his tee shot to 18 inches en route to a 69 that left him tied 54th with Mallow’s James Sugrue, who made his fourth birdie of the day at the last.
Paul Dunne shot 70 to lie 76th, but Niall Kearney shot 76 and Cormac Sharvin 79 to leave them with a mountain to climb to make the cut.
On the Challenge Tour, former Walker Cup star Paul McBride shot a three-under 68 to share 27th in the Indoor Golf Group Challenge in Helsingborg.
He’s five shots behind Sweden’s Oscar Lengden, who came home in seven-under 29 as he posted a course record 63 to lead by a shot from France’s Clement Sordet and England’s Max Orrin.
Gavin Moynihan shot a one-under 70 to share 72nd as Tom McKibbin and amateur Hugh Foley shot 72s, John Murphy a 78 with a quadruple bogey eight at his second hole and Ruaidhri McGee was forced to retire injured after six holes.
In the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship for the Espirito Santo Trophy in Paris, Ireland slipped from 17th to tied 20th at halfway.
Beth Coulter shot a three-over 74 and Lauren Walsh a 75 at Le Golf National with Anna Foster’s 76 discounted, leaving them 18 shots behind Sweden, who lead by two strokes on nine-under from Germany and the USA.
Meanwhile, Leinster claimed the double in the Men’s and Women’s Interprovincials at Moyvalley Hotel and Golf Resort.
With two wins apiece heading into the final day, the women’s title came down to the clash between Ulster and Leinster and it was Leinster who prevailed, claiming four of the six singles in a 5.5 – 3.5 win as Munster beat Connacht 6-3 to finish third.
In the men’s event, Leinster denied Connacht back-to-back championships when they beat Munster 8.5 - 2.5 to win on a countback of game points won - 20-19.
Connacht looked set to take the title for much of the afternoon, but they got just half a point from the last three matches and their 8-3 win over third-placed Ulster was not enough to surpass Leinster’s total.
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“Delighted that we pulled through,” said Kate Lanigan, who beat Louise Coffey 3&2 this afternoon. “There were some great finishing matches, some of the girls really held their own. Especially Jenny, she had a clutch up and down on 16 which sealed the deal.”
Lanigan was top points scorer for the week alongside teammate Emma Fleming, both players securing 5.5 from 6 matches.
“It’s nice but it’s about the team this week. It’s a nice achievement personally but the main thing is that we had it going as a team.”
Meanwhile, Munster overcame Connacht to secure 3rd place.
The men’s event also concluded with Leinster in top position but in a countback on matches won.
Connacht were in control all day in their tie with Ulster and were eventual winners by 7.5 points to 3.5, but this was still short of the 20 points total of a strong Leinster team.
“It’s great to get the win,” said Keith Egan, who secured the winning point. “It’s nice for me personally as I lost my last match last year for Connacht to win, so it kind of means Leinster are back. I’m proud of the team, we had great fun all week and I enjoyed every bit of it.”
With an hour’s play left, Leinster were trailing but kept their patience despite it being so close.
“Between all of us we just said to each other to worry about your own match,” continued Egan. “I just wanted to win my point and then hopefully the lads did their job. It was fairly simple, you just worry about everything after you’re done. I was good at staying patient today and we’re happy with the result.”
Liam Nolan (Connacht) finished as top points scorer for the week, adding 6 wins to a tally of 5.5 from his 2021 debut.
Leinster secured not only the men's and women's events this week but the Boys' U14 and U18 and the Girls' U18 titles earlier this summer.
RESULTS DAY 3:
Women’s Interprovincial Matches
Leinster 5.5 – 3.5 Ulster (Leinster names first)
Kate Lanigan & Emma Fleming halved with Katie Poots & Jessica Ross,
Ellen O’Gorman & Jenny Maguire lost to Kate Dwyer & Amy O’Donnell 3&2,
Emily Murray & Anna Abom beat Louise Coffey & Hannah LeeMcNamara 3&1,
Kate Lanigan beat Louise Coffey 3&2, Anna Abom beat Amy O’Donnell 3&1,
Rachel McDonnell lost to Jessica Ross 4&2,
Jenny Maguire beat Katie Poots 2&1,
Ellen O’Gorman lost to Laura Webb 2&1,
Emma Fleming beat Kate Dwyer 5&4
Connacht 3 – 6 Munster (Connacht names first)
Shannon Burke & Kate Dillon beat Clodagh Coughlan & Paula Walsh 3&2,
Suzanne Corcroan & Olivia Costello beat Caitlin Shippam & Aoife Ní Thuama 2 holes,
Clodagh Hopkins & Annabel Greham lost to Aideen Walsh & Corrina Griffin 1 hole
Kate Dillon lost to Caitlin Shippam 1 hole,
Shannon Burke halved with Clodagh Coughlan,
Ada Bowler lost to Paula Walsh 2 holes,
Clodagh Hopkins lost to Aoife Ní Thuama 6&5,
Suzanne Corcoran halved with Lauren Kelly,
Annabel Greham lost to Aideen Walsh 7&5
Men’s Interprovincial Matches
Munster 2.5 – 8.5 Leinster (Munster names first)
Richard Knightly & Darren O’Sullivan halved with Alan Fahy & Eoin Murphy,
David Reddan & Darragh Flynn beat Jake Whelan & Rob Brazill 3&2,
Jack Murphy & Alex King lost to Keith Egan & Marc Boucher 2&1,
Conor Hickey & John Cleary lost to Paul Coughlan & Charlie Denvir 1 hole,
Richard Knightly lost to Jake Whelan 5&4,
Conor Hickey beat Marc Boucher 1 hole,
Jack Murphy lost to Rob Brazill 3&2,
John Cleary lost to Eoin Murphy 1 hole,
Darragh Flynn lost to Charlie Denvir 3&2,
Darren O’Sullivan lost to Paul Coughlan 2&1,
David Reddan JNR lost to Keith Egan 2&1
Connacht 8 – 3 Ulster (Connacht names first)
Liam Nolan & Jack McDonnell beat Joshua Hill & Jordan Hood 1 hole,
David Kitt & Harry Gillivan halved with Ross Latimer & Aaron Marshall,
TJ Ford & Sean Flanagan beat Ryan Griffin & Cian Harkin 2&1,
Simon Walker & Allan Hill beat James Hewitt & Shane McDermott 4&3,
Liam Nolan beat Joshua Hill 4&3,
Jack McDonnell beat Ross Latimer 2&1,
David Kitt beat Ryan Griffin 5&4,
Simon Walker beat Shane McDermott 1 hole,
TJ Ford lost to Aaron Marshall 1 hole,
Allan Hill lost to Jordan Hood 2&1,
Sean Flanagan halved with James Hewitt
