McIlroy finding his rhythm

RORY McILROY has wisely stayed well away from all the criticism being levelled at Wentworth’s new-look West Course at the BMW PGA Championship. He was happy yesterday, having done just enough to scrape into the weekend thanks to a two under par 69 although he made no secret of his distaste for the drastically altered par five 18th.

It was something of a pushover until Ernie Els got his hands on it during last year’s overhaul. The South African wanted to put a lake in front of the green, Wentworth owner Richard Caring (who was picking up the bill for more than £6 million pounds!) instead insisted that it should be a burn. The pair of them argued long and hard before Caring’s money won the day.

The final result certainly looks well and few could question the quality of the craftsmanship. Trouble is that they also reduced the putting surface to such an extent that very few are prepared to go for it in two. The irony is that it is regarded as a risk-and-reward hole but few if any of Europe’s finest are prepared to take it on.

“I had 230 yards to the green and I’m laying up with a nine iron,” McIlroy said.

“It was pretty stupid. You know, when you have 230 in, you should be able to go for it. That’s just an easy 5-wood. You stand there and you’re like, I just can’t do it. Especially when you’re on the cut line.”

So, I prodded, in what circumstances would you go for the green in two? Without hesitation, he declared: “I would never. Not even with four to win on Sunday. No.”

So much for risk-and-reward! McIlroy wasn’t sure whether to be happy or otherwise after his 69 because it could and certainly should have been better after a very promising start. And he needed it, too, after Thursday’s 74 left him with a lot of ground to make up.

“I birdied 3, 4 and 5 and that sort of got me back in it,” he said. “Overall, it wasn’t a bad round but it could have been a lot better. But I’m here for the weekend so if I can go out (today) and get off to the same start and just keep it going, I should be okay.”

McIlroy picked up another stroke at the 12th but proceeded to undo a lot of that good work at the 15th and 16th. He got greedy after hitting a poor drive at the former and couldn’t recover after driving into one of the notoriously deep Wentworth bunkers at the next.

“The 15th was stupid,” he admitted. “I should have just chipped it out. In hindsight, that was the easy thing to do. I wasn’t exactly trying to do the impossible but trying to make it easier for the third — having a wedge, say, instead of a seven-iron because it was a tricky pin. But I just didn’t pull it off.”

Indeed, he carved his second right into the trees, chipped out this time and did well to make six. Another shot went at the 16th so it was vital for McIlroy that he should birdie the long 17th. He regarded the pin there as one of the easiest on the course and he duly got up and down with a degree of comfort for his four and that more or less clinched his place in the final 36 holes.

“My driving is pretty good so if I can keep doing that and set myself up so I can hit good iron shots into the greens, I should be able to get into the picture,” he reasoned.

“There was a timing, rhythm issue with my swing on Thursday but I did a good bit of work on the range and hit it pretty good again before going out. I just needed the club to come down a little bit on the way through and that seemed to do the trick.

“But it was a tricky course before the changes and now it’s even trickier. I played with Luke (Donald) and it’s not surprising to see him up there near the top of the leaderboard. He’s the most patient player in the world and this is a course that would suit him. And yet I’m hitting it well enough and I’m definitely putting well enough so I just have to put it all together.”

McIlroy found himself in a very similar situation at Quail Hollow three weeks ago before going on to shoot the lights out over the weekend to win his first event in the United States by four clear shots.