Rory McIlroy Finds Water Four Times In Irish Open Final Round
McIlroy's final round 74 saw him blow his chances of securing another Irish Open crown after finding the water on four occasions
Rory McIlroy's hopes of another Irish Open title were extinguished on Sunday, with the four-time Major winner finding water four times during a dramatic final round as Sweden's Vincent Norrman shot a closing 65 to win by one shot.
World No.2 McIlroy had a share of the lead on 13-under, but found water at the seventh with his approach. He then did the same again on the 11th before making a triple bogey at the 16th as he chased a big finish to catch clubhouse leader Norrman.
McIlroy’s closing 2-over 74 at The K Club dropped him down to 16th, five shots back of winner Norrman, who recorded his second DP World Tour victory. Irish compatriot and analyst Paul McGinley admitted McIlroy's error-strewn display suggested the European Ryder Cup stalwart was low on confidence with his game and had even perhaps got into bad habits following a recent back injury.
McIlroy's first visit into the drink on Sunday occurred at the par-4 seventh hole when he was tied for the lead at 13-under, before his 9-iron from 158 yards out was a little heavy, hit some rocks and ended up in the water.
McIlroy double-bogeyed the hole and followed with three straight pars before the second trip into the water at the par-4 11th hole, this time from 136 yards out. McIlroy pulled a wedge left into the water en-route to a bogey.
That effectively left McIlroy's title bid in tatters as Norrman finished at 14 under, which would eventually secure a one-shot victory over Hurly Long. But McIlroy still tried to chase down the leader as he went for the par 5 16th in two, before he carved his 260-yard fairway wood into the water and hit his nine-iron from 160 yards into the hazard.
McIlroy , who won the Irish Open in 2016, eagled the 16th in Friday's second round when he holed a 120-yard shot, but this time the par five bit back at him as he needed to hole a 20-footer to limit the damage to an eight.
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A par-birdie finish saw him sign for 74, with McIlroy now heading to Wentworth for the BMW PGA Championship, before the Ryder Cup at the end of the month.
Swede Norrman's only previous professional victory came in the US two months ago, when he landed the Barbasol Championship, which is jointly sanctioned by both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.
James Nursey is a freelance contributor to Golf Monthly after spending over 20 years as a sports reporter in newspapers. During a 17-year career with the Daily Mirror, he covered mainly football but reported from The Open annually and also covered a Ryder Cup and three US Opens. He counts a pre-tournament exclusive with Justin Rose at Merion in 2013 as one of his most memorable as the Englishman went on to win his first Major and later repeated much of the interview in his winner’s speech. Now, after choosing to leave full-time work in newspapers, James, who is a keen single-figure player, is writing about golf more. His favourite track is the Old Course after attending St Andrews University but has since played mainly at Edgbaston, where he is on the honours board. He is an active member of the Association of Golf Writers and Press Golfing Society but his favourite round is playing the game with his children. James is currently playing: Driver: Ping G400 3 wood: Ping i20 Hybrid: Ping i20 Irons: Ping i500 4-SW Wedges: Ping Glide forged 50, 56 Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour Ball: Titleist ProVI
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