One man’s duffed shot is another man’s treasure.
Rory McIlroy has had a week to forget at Quail Hollow and will not be winning the PGA Championship.
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McIlroy could not follow up his Masters triumphCredit: Getty
The Northern Irishman took an aggressive line on the drivable par-four 14th during his final round but missed left and ended up in the water.
He almost saved face with a solid pitch but missed the par putt to drop another shot, ultimately shooting a one-over 72 to round off his underwhelming week.
His misfortune led to an opportunity for a plucky volunteer who, after respectfully waiting for McIliroy to finish the hole, climbed down the bank, reached into the water and tried to fish it out.
He looked to have found his target and stuffed it into his back pocket before returning to duty.
“Sell that on eBay for 1,000,” joked one viewer on X.
“He thought he was slick,” added another, while a third wrote ‘busted!’
McIlroy’s week didn’t get off to the best start after he was forced to ditch his driver after it was found to be non-conforming.
The five-time major winner, who won the PGA in 2012 and 2014, barely scraped inside the cut.
And he finished the weekend three-over par, completing his final round before contenders Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler had even teed off.
It was his worst finish in this tournament since missing the cut ion 2016.
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The volunteer showed impressive dedication
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McIlroy will need to hit the rangeCredit: Getty
Unusually, he didn’t speak to the media after any of his four rounds in North Carolina.
Being forced to use a different driver after random testing may have had a massive role to play.
Runaway leader Sheffler suggested before the tournament that McIlroy might be the best golfer ever with the big club.
“You’d be hard-pressed to find anybody who has driven the ball better than he has in the history of the game,” he said. “He might be the best driver of the ball that we’ve ever seen.
“You had a guy like Tiger had a ton of speed, but Rory just has the accuracy is what sets him apart too. Not only does he hit it really far, he hits it really straight.”
But McIlroy’s unerring accuracy was not on show at one of his favorite courses, where he ranked near the bottom of the field for accuracy with his driver.
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“Early in the season, he put a different driver in,” former European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley told Sky Sports.
“He wasn’t driving particularly well, so he went back to his old driver and then took off and had great success. So much of it is in the head, and it’s confidence and what you know.”
2002 champion Rich Beem thinks that the switch may have got in McIlroy’s head.
“There are so many small things that go into the best players in the world,” he said.
“I think talking about Rory’s stats off the tee, I think there is a lot more that goes into it than he had to change the head of his driver. That changes a lot of things, especially on a Tuesday.
“They were testing drivers randomly, and Rory’s name came up. I think something like that can affect a player’s performance perception. It is strange but it happens.”
