Rory McIlroy’s putting aside the pain of his injured right wrist to catch new flame, Caroline Wozniacki’s forehand in Cincinnati.
McIlroy wasted little time leaving Atlanta to head to Ohio where stunning the World No. 1 heads the field at the Cincinnati Masters.
Rory McIlroy drives off the 10th during the fina round of the PGA Championship. (Photo - Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ie)
It will be a fond return for Wozniacki as she made her pro tennis debut at the event, and just eight days after her 15th birthday.
McIlroy will return home to the UK on the weekend for further examination of his wrist, but is planning to head back to the States to catch the Danish tennis ace contesting the following week’s New Haven Open at Yale University in Connecticut where she has reigned supreme the last three years.
McIlroy had been due to head south to Florida and look for a new apartment in the West Palm Beach Gardens region, ahead of a renewed assault next year on the PGA Tour.
But McIlroy double-faulted that idea in favour of helping lift Wozniacki’s flagging tennis.
“I’m going to take a couple of weeks off, rest the wrist, going to go to Cincinnati for a few days and then go home for the weekend, and then go back out to New York the week after,” he said.
“It will be nice and I will enjoy my two weeks off.
“So, I’ve put the house hunting off for the time on but I will be renting somewhere first down in Florida and then once I am down there, take a look at some areas that I think I’d like to live.
“But there’s no rush on buying a place over here, as long as I can get a place where I can put all my stuff for a few months and then make a good decision on where I want to live.”
McIlroy made a superb decision mid-point in his final round, and it reflected back to his reckless shot early on day one of the PGA Championship.
He flew the green from a fairway bunker at the par four, ninth and with his ball clearing a TV tower, a cart path and also a wooden fence before coming to rest on carpet among tables and chairs within the confines of the Wanamaker Club, one of the many corporate facilities at the PGA Championship.
PGA officials seemed very uncertain of McIlroy’s next move but McIlroy’s caddy, J P Fitzgerald was clear in saying to spectators: “No, he’s not going to play it. He’s taking a drop.”
However that didn’t stop McIlroy taking one last look at his ball and no doubt wondering if he could still play it off the carpet.
Rory McIlroy among the Wanamaker Club tables and chairs at the back of the ninth hole. (Photo - Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ie)
McIlroy was afforded a ‘free drop’ and walked off with a bogey on route to a 74 and an 11-over par tally.
But it was the Atlanta Athletic Club third hole that again exacted a toll on the World No. 4.
After his youthful exuberance on day one, he horribly three-putted from three feet on day four in taking a triple bogey seven.
McIlroy’s next event with the September 1st starting Omega European Masters in Switzerland, and the first qualifying event for the 2012 Ryder Cup.
And despite the injury early in the PGA Championship, McIlroy can rightly look back with pride on his achievements this year in the Majors with his U.S. Open winning effort certain to earn him a golf bag full of end-of-season awards including ‘European Tour Golfer of the Year’ and the ‘BBC Sportsperson of the Year’.
“It’s been a great year for me, and to get my first Major at the US Open was great,” he said
“The Masters was a huge learning curve for me in leading for 63 holes, and then not being able to finish it off.
“But then coming back the next time and winning at Congressional.
“The last two Majors of the year have been funny. “I’ve had to deal with a bit more attention than I usually would get and I have learned a lot from that as well. So it has been a great learning year for me and there have been a lot of positives to take.”
Triple Major winning, Padraig Harrington was in the group ahead of McIlroy with the former PGA champion obviously delighted to finish par, birdie and par.
Harrington is today (MON) hosting the ‘Wilson Golf Padraig Harrington Day’ at the nearby ‘Berkeley Hills Country Club in Duluth, and home club to fellow British Open champion, Stewart Cink.
Harrington then heads to Greensboro, North Carolina and the Wyndham Championship for a first time in his career, and looking to qualify for the following week’s FedEx Cup Series.
If unsuccessful, Harrington hinted he would return to play on the European Tour.
Harrington had four birdies but also four bogeys and two double in a closing round 74 for an eventual 11-over par tally.
“I’d love to be able to sell my finish, my last three holes as I’d get more prize money for those,” he said.
“I just forced it a little bit too much on Saturday and really just didn’t get the breaks today.
“What can I say? I can’t say was going to shoot 66-66 on the weekend, but I probably should have shot two 70s or something like that. But there you go. As I said I pushed a little bit too hard yesterday, maybe a little bit too much today as well.”
And when Harrington was asked what report card he would give himself for this year’s four Majors, he responded smiling: “A ‘D’ for effort.
“But I am now focussed on the next couple of months. When I next come back to Georgia in April, the Masters will look after itself.
“I’ll than about that from January onwards. For the time being I want to play well for the last three months of the year, get a number of wins and finish off the season well.”
British Open champ, Darren Clarke is believed to be relaxing in Barbados after missing the Atlanta cut with scores of 78 and 76, and will resume competition in Switzerland where he joins McIlroy.
And Graeme McDowell, who also missed the PGA cut with scores of 74 and 78, has this week off before the August 25th start in Edison, New Jersey of the FedEx Cup Playoff series.
