Rory McIlroy’s mercurial talents on the golf course has become the stuff of legend. However, unless he can figure out his shortcomings on the greens, that immense ability may have little to show for it going forward.
Playing in the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at Monterey Peninsula Country Club, McIlroy unleashed a monster drive on the 349-yard par-4 fifth hole. His drive came up just short of the putting surface, but close enough to pull the flat stick out of the bag.
From over 100 feet, McIlroy was able to cozy a lag putt to inside 10-feet for birdie. What happened next will make golfers everywhere cringe and try to look away.
Making his first start at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and first of the 2017-18 PGA TOUR Season, Rory McIlroy required five putts for a double-bogey six after driving the green at the par-4 fifth hole at Monterey Peninsula CC. His 3-over 74 leaves McIlroy at 1-under – T87
— Ron Mintz (@MintzGolf) February 10, 2018
McIlroy’s birdie putt burned the right edge of the cup and rolled out some 2-3 feet by the cup. From there, McIlroy went on to miss two more times resulting in a double-bogey 6 when he had putter in hand for his second shot.
According to PGA Tour statistics, McIlroy’s performance will go down as a 4-putt, but he used his putter on five of his six shots on the hole. Make of that what you will.
The craziest part? This isn’t that rare of an occurrence for McIlroy, as Golf Channel researcher extraordinaire Justin Ray pointed out.
Rory McIlroy: 4-putt on 5th hole (used putter for 5 strokes, but 1 of them was from off green). That was the 8,462nd hole of Rory’s PGA Tour career. It was just his 10th four-putt.
— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGC) February 9, 2018
With the wind knocked out of his sails, McIlroy finished the day with two more bogies over his last four holes to post a 3-over par 74. He currently sits at 1-under par for the tournament and one shot off of the current cut line. He will play Pebble Beach on Saturday needing a solid round to make it to Sunday.
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