McIlroy rides luck to contend at Sawgrass but refuses to comment on heckler incident
Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy refused to comment on being heckled by a US college player and confiscating his phone after opening with a 67 to lie just a shot off the lead in The Players Championship.
The world number two made up for a bad day with the driver with a hot putter and a miraculous closing birdie to outscore world number one Scottie Scheffler (69) by two and reigning PGA and Open champion Xander Schauffele (72) by five as he raced home in 32.
He finished spectacularly, cutting a low running 162-yard five iron off the pine needles right of the 18th to seven feet before brushing in the putt to end his day just one behind leaders Lucas Glover, JJ Spaun and Camilo Villegas.
But when asked after his round whether he knew that the fan who heckled him during Tuesday’s practice round was University of Texas player Luke Potter, he refused to comment.
“No, you can’t,” McIlroy joked with a reporter after being asked if he could ask about the incident. “Because I don't want you to (laughing).”
While the heckle was not caught on camera, a social media video showed him walking towards a fan and asking, “Can I see your phone?” before taking it and walking away.
It was alleged a fan had said, “Just like 2011 at Augusta,” referring to McIlroy's 2011 Masters meltdown, after he hooked his tee shot at the 18th into water.
The alleged heckler turned out to be University of Texas player Luke Potter, who later apologised in a call with Golf Channel after McIlroy had him ejected from the grounds and took what turned out to be his teammate’s phone.
“Look, I just made a mistake, and I take ownership for it,” said Potter, who had claimed his first NCAA individual victory the day before the McIlroy incident in The Hayt at nearby Sawgrass Country Club.
“I apologise for it. That's about all that needs to be said. ... It's just a good learning experience. Yeah, I apologise."
Asked if he was surprised to learn his heckler was a good college player, McIlroy opted to declare the matter closed and said, “I'm really happy that I shot 67 today.”
He had every reason to be happy as he hit just four fairways but ranked third for his approach play and ninth for putting.
“I didn't hit a lot of fairways,” McIlroy said. “I'm trying to hit like a cut shot off the tee because it doesn't really get you in a lot of trouble here.
“If you miss right off those tee shots, you're going to be okay. I was trying to just cut it into play, and I didn't do it very well, but anytime I did miss a fairway, I either had a gap or a shot, or I could do something with it.
“So I'm not going to be able to ride my luck like that the rest of the week. So I’ll hit some balls here and try to figure it out.”
Starting the day six shots behind early pacesetter Glover, the Holywood star birdied the first two holes.
He’d hand a shot back at the short third and another at the seventh as he hit just one of his first six fairways.
But while he struggled to find the short grass, he made up for that with the blade.
After rolling in a 15-footer for a birdie four at the ninth, he reeled off three birdies in a row to start the back nine, then saved the best for last with that spectacular closing birdie.
“All that stuff's been sort of cleared out over the years, and you're just hoping for a backswing and a gap, and I had both of those,” he said of the pine straw under the trees right of the 18th.
“I was just trying to chip and run a five iron up around the front of the green and make four and get out of there.
“But, you know, it was a bonus to get it up on the green and hold the putt. It was a lovely way to finish.”
McIlroy was tied for fourth with Min Woo Lee and Billy Horschel, but Shane Lowry and Seamus Power have their work cut out.
Lowry played well but holed little in a level par 72 that left him tied for 62nd, while Power was out of sorts and shot a 76 that left him 116th in the 144-man field.
The Clara man (37) has improved his putting considerably in recent seasons but he had little luck with the blade on a windless morning at TPC Sawgrass, missing five putts inside ten feet as he opened with a level par 72.
“Don’t have much to say; could’ve been better,” was the 2019 Open champion’s blunt assessment of a round featuring three birdies and three bogeys.
He dropped an early shot at the 11th, his second, when he came up three feet short with a slippery 30 footer from the fringe and lipped out for par.
He got back to level with a two-putt birdie at the 16th and did well to salvage a bogey at the 18th after finding water with his approach from just off the fairway.
While he made a 10 footer for birdie at the second, he three-putted the third before getting that shot back with an 18 footer at the next following a brave fairway bunker shot.
But he couldn’t make anything happen from there to the clubhouse, missing a four footer for birdie at the seventh after another superb approach shot.
Power made four birdies, four bogeys and two double bogeys in a 76 that leaves him battling to make the cut.
“Yeah, wasn’t very good at all today to be honest with you,” Power said after hitting just eight greens in regulation.
“A lot of work to do there tomorrow so we’ll see. I kind of let shots go everywhere. Not my best.”
On the HotelPlanner Tour, Laytown and Bettystown’s Alex Maguire came back from a double-bogey seven at his fourth hole of the day and opened with a level par 72 in the Kolkata Challenge to set the early pace at Royal Calcutta.
The former Walker Cup star (24) birdied the next before sandwiching birdies at the 13th, 15th and 16th between bogeys at the 11th and 17th to end the day tied for 54th, six shots behind India’s Om Prakash Chouhan and Spain’s Quim Vidal.
They posted six under par rounds of 66 to lead by one stroke from Austrian Lukas Nemecz and Indian duo SSP Chawrasia and Dhruv Sheoran.
Galway’s Liam Nolan, who lies fifth in the Road to Mallorca standing in the race for 20 DP World Tour cards, turned in four-over 40 before picking up two back nine birdies to card a 74 that left him joint 94th.
Holywood’s Tom McKibbin, meanwhile, will be looking to continue his hot start to his LIV Golf career in Singapore today with Graeme McDowell also seeking form ahead of next week’s International Series Macau and the battle for three spots in The Open at Royal Portrush.
Following the cancellation of last week’s Australian WPGA Championship due to the arrival of Cyclone Alfred, Ireland’s Lauren Walsh, Annabel Wilson and Anna Foster were in action earlier today in the Australian Women’s Classic at Coffs Harbour in New South Wales.
