Out of sorts McIlroy fails to find momentum

RORY McILROY went into the BMW PGA Championship the 11-1 joint favourite but never really figured on any of the four days.

McIlroy’s body language as he arrived at the final green said it all about a low key performance that was a far cry from his recent magnificent victory on the US PGA Tour at Quail Hollow. He shot rounds of 74, 69, 73 and 73 for a five over par total of 289 and tied for 48th.

A frustrated McIlroy said: “I just felt a bit handcuffed. I couldn’t really do anything. It’s hard to get anything going around here, hard to get momentum and to make birdies. So it was one of those weeks when I was just playing to get out of here.”

Not exactly a winning kind of attitude, is it, but the Holywood youngsters went further: “You’re actually better off hitting it wild off the tee because you are going to miss the bunkers. If you’re just off your game, it punishes you more than if you are hitting it terrible.

“I’ve left a lot of putts short this week and so have a lot of other guys. But you can’t get these greens fast because they’re so severe. I don’t really know what positives I can take from the week.”

McIlroy is at Royal Birkdale today for a company day and after that has a week off before heading off for a three week stint in the US, Jack Nicklaus’s Memorial tournament and the Memphis Open before the US Open at Pebble Beach.

“I’ll be glad to get back to playing a decent course at Memorial,” he said.

“This week just slots in with everything else this year. To be honest, it’s been pretty mediocre apart from Quail Hollow. But morale-wise, I feel fine. I’m frustrated because I felt I was playing well coming in here but like my season, I’m not getting the most out of it. And it’s hard to enjoy yourself when you’re down the bottom of the field. For me, I hate going out in the morning on Sundays. It’s crap.’’

If McIlroy was frustrated by his week, Paul McGinley was absolutely furious at finishing bogey, bogey, double bogey on Saturday when two under for the tournament and within striking distance of the lead.

To his credit, he bounced back impressively yesterday with an even par 71 in spite of dropping another shot at the 18th. He finished two over for the 72 holes and tied for 27th, his best performance of a year that has been seriously impeded by a knee operation just before Christmas.

“Saturday was one of the most disappointing days of my golfing life and I hardly slept at all last night,” said McGinley.

“I had played myself into the heart of the competition and then threw it all away. But 71 today was a good effort and while I’m a little rusty competitively, I feel my game is coming round.

“My knee is fine and I can’t blame that for anything although I wouldn’t be able for the two qualifying rounds for the US Open at Walton Heath today.”

The Irish teeing it up over 36 holes in the hope of getting to Pebble Beach next month are Graeme McDowell (who may not need to depending on whether he holds on to 50th in the new world rankings), Shane Lowry, Peter Lawrie, Gareth Maybin, Darren Clarke and Gary Murphy.

Lowry finished with a 75 yesterday for eight over but still maintained that he had learned a lot from his week with next year’s championship in mind in spite of finishing back in 65th position.

McGrane has shown no ambition to make it to Pebble Beach but in his own quiet way, he cruised round yesterday in one under par 70 for a total of one over that clinched him a share of 21st place. Indeed, he was three under for the first 14 before finishing with four successive fives, two of them bogeys.

Other Irish: Gareth Maybin, 69, three over, 34th; Peter Lawrie, 72, six over, 56th.