Rory McIlroy fumes at Irish Open officials for not using ‘common sense’ in frustrating round
Rory McIlroy voiced his frustration after officials placed his group on the clock for slow play during the final three holes of his opening round at the Irish Open, as he steps up his preparations for the Ryder Cup.
The Masters champion was sailing smoothly on day one at the K Club, sitting comfortably at three-under-par as he approached those concluding three holes, with massive crowds following his every shot throughout the morning. However, things took a turn for the worse when his threesome, including Thriston Lawrence and Kristoffer Reitan, found themselves battling the clock for the second time during their round.
McIlroy, who has offered his verdict on playing at one of Donald Trump’s courses, paid a hefty price for the added pressure, dropping shots on the seventh and eighth holes – his 16th and 17th of the day – falling to one-under-par and sliding beyond the top 20.
READ: Tiger Woods handed major new golf role amid doubts he’ll ever pla
“In all honesty, I felt a little rushed out there for the last 12 holes. We got put on the clock pretty early,” he said. “And then the first official went away, and then we were put on the clock for the last three holes to try to make time up.
“And it’s hard because you feel a bit rushed, you’re playing some tough holes, and we obviously, our group, have to deal with a lot more than any other group on the course. So it’s understandable that we lose time.”
McIlroy contends that, considering his position as the tournament’s highest-ranked player and regular star of prime-time television broadcasts, officials should show him greater leniency. “I feel like any time I either come back to Europe or I play in some of these like one, two, three in the world type groups, we’re always put on the clock for that reason,” he said.
“So I got a little frustrated the last few holes because I feel like it always happens and I don’t think they use sort of common sense in terms of, well, of course we’re going to lose ground because we’re going to have to wait on crowds and wait on the two camera crews that are out there.
“And, you know, there’s just a lot more going on with our group than any of the other groups on the course, and sometimes I feel like they have to give us a little bit of leeway and use a bit of common sense.”
The paradox is that McIlroy, recognized for his brisk tempo on the course, feels unjustly targeted, admitting that he “lost my s—-” with a PGA Tour official at the Players Championship earlier this year.
During Thursday’s 7th hole, for example, both Lawrence, who secured the Swiss Open last week, and Reitan found themselves in the water.
McIlroy explained: “Yeah, and then obviously they’re taking their time, whatever, and I was in my mind like, ‘Oh, do I just go first to try to save a bit of time here?'”.
“But not really, you can still wait your turn. So it wasn’t really that, I guess it was more I just felt because it’s happened to me quite a lot before in these sort of big groups who want to come back to Europe and play, I felt like I just let it agitate me a little bit.”
At the Straffan venue in County Kildare, Spain’s Nacho Elvira is leading the field with a six-under-par after carding a 66, while Shane Lowry is leading the Irish charge with a three-under-par 69, finishing strong with three birdies in his last six holes.
