The body language was transformed, the blame – for the most part – on an errant putter that stubbornly refused to do its master’s bidding. Time after time, as one putt after another evaded the hole, Rory McIlroy stood in bemusement and then engaged with his caddie JP Fitzgerald as if somehow a magic formula could be plucked out of the sizzling, over-heated air.
There was no magic formula, no solution. And, finally, on the second hole, his 11th of an increasingly frustrating round, and after another a three-putt bogey, McIlroy threw his club in the direction of his golf bag. It acted as a cushion, but not as any form of inspiration to right the wrongs of a round that never clicked into first gear never mind anything faster.
In the hot, stifling New Jersey air, McIlroy found himself stuck in neutral. He boomed drives, to awe looks from those in the galleries. And, in contrast, Phil Mickelson, one of those in the three-ball, played erratically to the point that, when the left-handed American hooked his drive on the 17th into the trees, there came a shout of, "Phil's in the trees again." Worse followed when Lefty used a hybrid for an attempted recovery from the rough, only for the ball to scuttle out and finish just short of the creek. Embarrassing stuff from one of golf's greats.
Yet, by the end of the round, it was Mickleson who outscored McIlroy, 71 to a 74. Jason Day, who'd only acquainted himself with the course in a late practice round on Wednesday, stole the bragging rights with a 68 in the three-ball.
“(Rory) actually hit it okay, he just didn’t hole anything on the greens. Phil had a tough (time) on the front side and fought back very nicely on the back side . . .I feel like I was just trying to stay in my own world. I can’t really control what those guys are going to do. Sometimes it does zap the energy out of the group when a couple of the guys aren’t playing well. You have got to get in your own world and stay there and focus on what you need to do,” Day later remarked.
This wasn’t the plan, and certainly not the round which McIlroy anticipated. The fault, without a doubt, lay with the putter. He took 35 putts in posting a score that failed to yield a single birdie – a fate which last befell him in the Irish Open at Royal County Down last year – and his plight was highlighted no so much by that three-putt on the second but rather the number of birdie putts that moved left, or right, but refused to drop.
“I’m driving the ball as well as I have, ever, I think. Iron play feels good. Just when I get on the greens, it’s just a different story. I’ll need to try and figure it out. You know, try to shoot something in the mid 60s and get myself back into it . I’m struggling with the pace. I just need to be a little bit more aggressive, a little bit more free flowing with my stroke,” said McIlroy, who decided not to march straight to the putting green.
Instead, McIlroy’s plan was to return to his rented house with the intention of returning to the course for some work on his putter in the evening when the temperatures had cooled. The aim? To transform a cold putter into a hot one.
