Rory: "I did not practise as hard as I might have."
/Lawrence Donegan says Rory McIlroy's game has "as much luster as Facebook stock" after a second 79 in the BMW at Wentworth. Rory pretty much agreed, taking the blame after the round even though he was on the wrong side of a decidedly uneven tee time draw.
"I took my eye off the ball. I did not practise as hard as I might have," he said. "It is a week I'd like to forget. I feel like I've lacked competitive rounds. I took a couple of weeks off after the Masters and then only had two days at the Players Championship and two days here. It is probably a good thing that I have the next two days to practise on my game."
Full marks for perspective and no marks for anyone who is ready to push the panic button on the most naturally gifted golfer of this generation. It should not be forgotten he has never liked Sawgrass, the host venue for the Players Championship, and Wentworth's West Course. Yet there is no point in skipping round the uncomfortable truth that McIlroy looks a little unsettled on the course right now. He is hitting more than his share of slack shots and, perhaps even worse, he is showing a disturbing lack of fight when adversity comes calling.
James Corrigan noted this as well:
Although he did reveal that as the bogeys and doubles arrived in a disastrous eight-hole run from the eighth, which featured him dropping nine shots, “I was already thinking about next week”.
Yet it was another confession which was more brutally honest.
Tom Pilcher talked to Rory's pater and he isn't too worried.
His father Gerry, who ducked for cover on the 17th as playing partner Martin Laird's wayward tee shot sailed into the trees at the intimidating par-five hole, shrugged off his son's unusually poor outing.
"There's always tomorrow. It's not the Olympics," the smiling Northern Irishman told fans.
And Derek Lawrenson in the Daily Mail is the first to mention, well, you know...
'Maybe I have taken my eye off the ball and haven't been practising as hard as I might,' he said.
After missing the halfway cut at Sawgrass he was on the first plane to Rome to be with his tennis- playing girlfriend, Caroline Wozniacki. There is only one place he will be today, and it is not on a plane to Roland Garros.
If you are disappointed at not being able to see McIlroy this weekend, the good news is you still can, albeit on the practice ground.
That's right, Rory is sticking around Wentworth to practice.