Rory: Doral Doesn't Let You Go Low, Requires Precision

It's hard to tell the tone of Rory McIlroy's post-round comments and I always am reluctant to read too much into player views after four days grinding it out on a demanding layout.

But based on Brian Wacker's report it sounds like McIlroy unintentionally paid a compliment to the revamped Blue Monster at Trump National Doral.

Wacker says the conversation turned to whether McIlroy would play a tournament at Doral if it weren't for the WGC status.

“I don’t know, that’s a good question” McIlroy said after a long pause. “Obviously it is so you come. It depends what you want. It has been a tough couple of weeks. (PGA National) isn’t an easy course. It’s a tough stretch. I’m all for having a tough course but it’s nice to make birdies, too. It depends what you want.

"It's a frustrating golf course because you feel like you should be doing so much better, and it just doesn't allow you to. You have to be so precise and just to get the ball close on some of these greens and these pin positions. I don't know if it's because you've got memories of the course before, like going low, and the way it is now it just doesn't allow you to do that."

The SI/golf.com gang had a lively disagreement about the redo. Highlights, though I encourage you to click on the link and read the entire thing:

LYNCH: The new, still-firm greens means that this year Doral was more representative of what Trump wants to showcase: achingly difficult one-note golf that destroys scorecards in a manner he associates with the U.S. Open. As the course settles in, it will be more representative of what Gil Hanse was trying to achieve: a more thoughtful, strategic approach to otherwise flat, typical Florida golf.

RITTER: It was wet and wild and fun to watch. A nice improvement.

SHIPNUCK: It definitely looks better and provides a more interesting, strategic test. But it’s way more extreme than the typical Hanse design, and you gotta assume he was nudged in that direction by the blast furnace that is Trump’s mouth. For Trump to state he wanted even par to be the winning score is ridiculous -- this ain’t the U.S. Open, and it shouldn’t be. It’ll be a much better venue next year when some tweaks have been made and the greens are more mature.