The pros, they’re just like us… sometimes.
Rory McIlroy endured a nightmarish start to his second round at the World Golf Championships HSBC Champions on Friday in Shanghai. The World No. 5 began his round with a bogey on the first hole, and then after a perfectly-placed drive on the par-5 second, he missed his approach left and into a water hazard.
What unfolded next could have been ripped directly from your weekend game. McIlroy dropped and chunked his chip shot, resulting in the ball racing back down the bank and into the hazard once again.
Golf is hard … even for the best.
Triple bogey for Rory McIlroy. pic.twitter.com/bSWNhZI1yI
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 26, 2018
McIlroy would find the putting surface with his sixth shot. He missed the putt for seven and settled for a triple-bogey 8 on the hole to move to 4-over par on the day and the tournament.
The hits didn’t stop coming after that, either. The four-time major champion carded a second bogey on the par-4 5th hole and he doubled the par-5 eighth to get as high as 7-over par on his round. A chip-in birdie on the difficult par-4 9th hole moved him to 6-over par, but he still posted a front-nine 42.
Things improved slightly on the back nine as McIlroy made three birdies against two bogeys to shot 1-under par. He finished at 5-over par for the day and the event, which leaves him in a tie for 58th place, 16 shots behind 36-hole leader Tony Finau.
Finau fired a second consecutive round in the mid-60s to lead by three over Patrick Reed, Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose.
