Rory McIlroy survives ugly finish to make weekend
AUGUSTA, Ga. — For a while, all was well in Rory’s World. The 19-year-old Belfast sensation–next month we can start calling him a 20-year-old–got his name on the Augusta National leaderboards on Friday when he went to four under for the tournament after an eagle on the 15th hole.
Tiger Wood was playing in front of him, and Rory McIlroy’s mother and father and girlfriend and agents were positioning themselves in discreet places to cheer him on. Then, disaster, Masters-style: a four-putt double bogey on the par-3 16th and a triple on the par-4 18th, after two swipes out of a greenside bunker that you’d never have expected him to find in the first place. (He smashed his drive.)
He seemed like he was having a great time, playing with Anthony Kim and Ryo Ishikawa, and his name looked right at home on the leaderboard. But with scores of 72 and 73, this will likely be a year for learning. Anyway, it’s not all bad. He’ll be the only teenager playing on the weekend.
*Update, Saturday 10:40 a.m.: On Friday evening in the press center, rumors that McIlroy might be disqualified started circulating. According to the Associated Press, officials reviewed his adventures in the bunker at 18 for a possible violation: “His second shot landed in the bunker on the right side, and McIlroy left it there with his third shot. He kicked at the sand in disgust — a no-no according to the rules, which forbid players from testing the surface before hitting any shots in a hazard. That could have disqualified him. But after a review, the rules committee decided no violation had occurred.”
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