Although trees and a bunker stood between Rory McIlroy and the 17th green at Olympia Fields during a downpour, he didn’t mind being in the rough. Thursday’s BMW Championship didn’t care about even that.
No one would have known this by looking at McIlroy’s scorecard that he only hit the short grass six times out of 18 tee shots, three of which were on par 3s. He shot bogey-free for a 5-under 65 to tie Brian Harman, the winner of the Open Championship, for the lead in the second FedExCup Playoffs round.
“Despite only finding three fairways today, shooting 65 is a small bonus,” McIlroy said.
After a two-hour rain delay in the morning, the greens were so soft that McIlroy realized it would be simpler to approach pins from the rough since the ball wouldn’t spin as much.
“Not that I was attempting to shoot for the rough,” he said smiling.
Furthermore, his position at the par-4 17th hole wasn’t the best. On the 456-yard hole, he still had 116 yards to go, but a group of trees stood in his way, and there was a sizable bunker in front of the putting green.
He hit a 7-iron just over the bunker and over the green through a gap in the branches and then chipped in for a birdie. That was the kind of day it was.
“In the window, I was looking out of, there were a few branches. I thought, “If it hits those, it will just drop down near that front left bunker and I’ll have a decent angle down the green and have a 10-footer or less to save par.” It was somewhat hit-and-miss. Trying to thread the needle, just. Either take it on or chip it out. And today is just Thursday. I questioned, “What the heck?” I’ll attempt it and monitor the outcome.” he said.
When the round was nearly over, Harman, who had some rust after winning the Open Championship the previous week at the FedExCup Playoffs opening, delivered his excitement. On the 16th par-3, he sank a 40-foot birdie putt, and on the 17th, he chipped in for another birdie.
At 66, they were one shot ahead of a sizable group that featured Rickie Fowler, Matt Fitzpatrick, Sahith Theegala, and Scottie Scheffler.
Scheffler had gone nine months without placing lower than 12th, but after that, his putting struggled, and he spent two straight weeks outside the top 20. It was good to see them take a gamble. By winning, Fowler has a chance to secure one of the guaranteed six slots for the American Ryder Cup team.
To advance to the TOUR Championship at East Lake, Fitzpatrick and Theegala must finish among the top 30 in the FedExCup after this week.
Fitzpatrick, who is ranked No. 40, needs a strong showing to advance to the TOUR Championship and turn around a bad year. The winner of the U.S. Open last year defeated Jordan Spieth in a playoff at Hilton Head, but his FedExCup ranking dropped as a result of just one top-10 finish in his last nine starts.
“Really happy,” Fitzpatrick said, mentioning “really” a total of six further times to match the number of birdies he had made in the first round.
Theegala, who is ranked No. 31 entering the BMW Championship, entered the leaderboard after holing a 9-iron from the 14th fairway for an eagle.
“It’s impossible to overlook, in my opinion. Everyone would be lying, in my opinion, if they said they didn’t know exactly where they stood and, if not exactly, at least had a rough sense of what it would take to get to next week.”Theegala said as regards the FedEx Cup Standings.
Among those at 67 were Collin Morikawa and Cameron Young, who both aimed to raise their Ryder Cup standing. Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm, and Patrick Cantlay, who had previously held the title, were all 68.
With three victories in a row on the line, Lucas Glover shot 70.
On a course that was so dry and firm in 2020 that Rahm had to finish at 4-under par to enter a playoff, he prevailed against Dustin Johnson. This was lush, verdant, and delayed by two hours because it had received a lot of early rain.
The terrain was soggy and lengthy. The greens were so soft that it was difficult to strike the ball the proper distance, particularly when there was a back pin and you knew the ball would fly back. McIlroy didn’t care if the ball was in the rough because of this. The most artistic driver in the game was put on display because it was time to blast out.
“I was often overly aggressive on the tee since I subconsciously knew I wasn’t really getting penalized for it. The golf course is unquestionably not performing as it did in 2020. Back in those earlier years, I did not take that approach.
However, with the wind and sun, I’m hoping that the golf course starts to firm up and play a little bit more like I think it should.” McIlroy said.
