Woods & McIlroy Share A Picnic Table After Making A Meal Of Boston Third Round

4 years ago by Comments Off on Woods & McIlroy Share A Picnic Table After Making A Meal Of Boston Third Round

When was the last time the two ball of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy ended a third round in any tournament at lunch?

That’s what happened on day three of the Northern Trust with the now good friends sitting down at a wooden ‘picnic-like’ table to enjoy their lunch break and chew over the bizarre events of the proceeding four hours or so.

The duo, and with a combined 19 Majors, had made a complete ‘meal’ of their third round on the TPC Boston course.

Not that it mattered as the pair were all smiles enjoying bottles of water and Coke on a day that clearly was not their best golf.

Woods did win bragging rights posting a disappointing two-over 73 and dropped back to a share of 65th place at one-under par while McIlroy shot a 74 to be at level par and just two shots ahead of double Australian Open winner, Matt Jones who is the tail of the field.

Rory and Tiger all smiles at lunch but after making a complete ‘meal’ of their third rounds at the Northern Trust. (Photo – PGA Tour)

Woods and McIlroy had only just made it to the weekend rounds of the opening event on the 2019/20 ‘Play-Off Series’ with 36-hole scores at three-under par on the TPC Boston course.

Sadly, round three was nothing like their 2012 BMW Championship head-to-head when Woods shot scores of 65-67 and McIlroy 64 and 68 in the same opening two round group to be sharing second place through 36 holes.

It was also nothing like later in 2012 when Woods and McIlroy squared-off in China in the ‘Duel at Lake Jinsha Lake’ when Rory, and just months from signing with Nike, edged out Tiger by a shot and in the most bizarre golf event this journalist has ever attended.

No day three on the outskirts of Boston was a case of who could finish their round with the least bogeys, double bogeys and McIlroy’s case, triple-bogeys.

Woods hit 12 of 14 fairways in his 73 but could then manage to find 11 greens in regulation.

McIlroy began his round in the company of his 15-time Major Champion playing partner – 3, 8 and 2 – that means birdie, triple-bogey and birdie.

After starting by holing a seven-foot birdie, McIlroy from 222 yards came up short of the green at the par-5 second. McIlroy then looked on in total amazement when, playing out of a marshy hazard, his recovery hit a rock and bounced backward, this time into the water.

I don’t think we’ve ever seen McIlroy play such a shot in his now 13-year pro career.

He compounded matters by three-putting from 40 feet for a triple-bogey ‘8’.

Later, McIlroy was left of the fairway at the par-4 sixth, then from 151 yards he went left of the green and in gnarly native grass. There were two whacks with a wedge to get it out of the native grass, then a third to find the green, from where he two-puted from 12 feet.

Two triples in six holes is hardly the start McIlroy envisioned and it meant that the two icons were a combined 5-over, but they proceeded onward with improved golf, even if the scoring touch was not present.

McIlroy, after the choppy sixth, played his final 12 holes in 1 under, birdies at the par-4 10th and par-5 18th against a lone bogey at the par-4 14th at least giving him a positive close to savour.

Woods birdied the par-4 ninth to make the turn in level-par 36, but bogeyed Nos. 11, 12 and 14 before negotiating a deft two-putt birdie from 60 feet, up a steep swale left of the green, then down a slippery slope.

For the golfing purists, McIlroy found just six of 14 fairways and while he managed to hit 13 greens in regulation, he produced 32 putts.

No formal comments from the duo after the round but the sight of them sitting together at a picnic table said it all.

You now know why golf was termed golf!

 

 

 

 

 

 



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