‘If he just played with his eyes closed’: Rory McIlroy criticized after 4 mishits

Rory McIlroy, after a 351-yard drive down the left side of the fairway on the par-5 3rd at TPC Southwind, and a 225-yard second shot that fell into the left greenside bunker, now needed to go only a little more than 11 yards more. Just to escape the sand during Thursday’s first round of the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, he’d have to hit his ball maybe 3 yards. 

It went 2, hit the lip and rolled back to his feet.

“Ohhh, Rory. That’s … that is rare,” analyst Nick Faldo said during Golf Channel’s broadcast. 

Only, McIlroy hiccupped again on the 5th hole. And twice on the 6th. Across four holes, McIlroy flubbed four times. What should be rare was common over an hour of play, and analysts were critical of the four-time major champion when the stretch was over.

McIlroy’s mishits came once from a fairway bunker and three times from just off the green. On the par-4 5th, after another deep drive down the fairway, and an approach shot that dropped just off the green and 18 feet from the pin, McIlroy opted to take a putting grip with a wedge — and hit his third shot 7 feet short. “That was a strange choice,” Faldo said on the broadcast.

The third mistake was due to some misfortune, as McIlroy drove into the upslope of the right fairway bunker on the par-5 6th, about a foot from the lip, and he’d hit his second shot about 20 feet. On his fourth shot on the hole, and fourth error overall, McIlroy hit a 12-foot pitch from just off the left side of the green — leaving him about 12 feet short of the hole. 

He’d raise his hand to his temple. And Faldo and fellow analyst Frank Nobilo were scratching their heads. 

“Sometimes, Nick, you feel like if he just played with his eyes closed,” Nobilo said on the Golf Channel broadcast. “Just played. Almost no thought. You’d think he couldn’t shoot anything worse.” 

“You wonder at times he tries to play — this sounds dark — play too straight,” Faldo said. “You know, really work the ball a little bit more. Make it more of an obvious curve to the ball.” 

“You watch him on the range — I know you have, I have during the course of the season — it’s just magnificent at times. It’s like a machine,” Nobilo said. 

“When he comes on the golf course and he tries the little fade and he pulls it,” Faldo said. “And we all know that. He goes right through. And it’s been going on way too long. That’s the problem. It’s just deflating at times.”

Faldo and Nobilo would note that McIlroy was playing his first event since last week’s Olympic tournament in Japan, which is 13 hours ahead of Memphis, site of the St. Jude. He’d finish with a two-over 72, putting him 62nd in the 66-player field.  

“The one thing with Rory, he has made — we’ve referred to the 13-hour time change, and also the grass,” Nobilo said. “The turf is a little different here.” 

“You’re right. We’ve been pretty harsh,” Faldo said. “They finished Sunday night, they jumped on a plane … you actually probably get back to America Sunday night. A couple days back. Doing the double time change in just a week is a lot.” 

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Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor