Angry Rory McIlroy narrowly survives cut at US Open
An angry Rory McIlroy needed a birdie on the last hole of his second round to make the cut at the US Open.
McIlroy said before the tournament that he needed to shake off the hangover of his epic Masters win at Augusta National in April, but he could not have chosen a harder place to do that.
The brutal Oakmont course in Pittsburgh has been chewing up and spitting out the best players in the world and McIlroy is one of them.
After a four-over-par 74 on Thursday, McIlroy had hopes of fighting back into contention in the second round, but he again struggled to tame the course, posting two double bogeys in the opening three holes.
Such was his frustration, he launched his club in anger at the 12th hole after sending another shot into the unforgiving rough before smashing a tee marker on the 17th when finding the bunker.
He produced some magic on the 18th with a stunning approach shot to five feet and converted for a birdie to reach six-under-par which keeps him around for the weekend.
Whether he will be pleased about that or not is another story entirely and he will not be challenging for the title come Sunday night.
His late birdie did not quell the frustration enough for him to speak to the media as he skipped post-round duties for the sixth successive round at a major.
American Ryder Cup player Sam Burns tops the leaderboard, making a mockery of everyone else's struggles with a head-scratching five-under-par 65.
'I didn't really think of much of a score before. The golf course is really too difficult to try to figure out what's a good score and what's not,' Burns said.
'You're really just shot by shot and trying to play each hole the best you can.
'There's obviously a lot of golf left on a very tough golf course. It's a 72-hole golf tournament, and if you can get a round under par out here, no matter if it's one under, you'll take it.'
Burns sits one shot clear of first-round leader JJ Spaun, who carded a two-over 72 to sit on two-under-par.
Spaun said: 'I knew it would be hard to back up a bogey-free four-under at Oakmont in the US Open. So I'm just glad that I kept it together. I'm two over today, but given where we are that's a pretty good score.'
It is no wonder the players have been calling the terrifying Pennsylvania course Transylvania as Viktor Hovland, at one-under-par, is the only other player under par at the halfway mark of the tournament.
World number one Scottie Scheffler reckons he is still in the mix, despite sitting seven shots off the lead.
Scheffler, who was seen angrily remonstrating with his coach after his round, carded a 71 to sit four-over-par but is not ruling himself out.
'It felt like me getting away with one over today wasn't all that bad. It could have been a lot worse,' he said.
'I'm definitely not out of the tournament. Today I think with the way I was hitting it, it was easily a day I could have been going home, but I battled pretty hard to stay in there.'
There have been plenty of high-profile casualties, none more so than defending champion Bryson DeChambeau, who will go home after finishing on a bruising 10-over-par.
Justin Rose, Shane Lowry, Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood and Gary Woodland also get the weekend off.
It could also be a farewell to the US Open for Phil Mickelson, who could not fina a birdie at the final hole to make the cut.
Mickelson admits he is unlikely to play this tournament again unless he can win next month's Open at Portrush or hope for a USGA exemption.
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The Guardian
27 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Ben Ainslie's choppy seas: SailGP, the America's Cup and a split with Ineos
Just off Manhattan last weekend, a dozen 50ft catamarans soared across the water at speeds of up to 52mph. Navigating a precariously tight course, in the shadow of the city's myriad skyscrapers, teams battled challenging conditions in a series of rapid, hectic races. 'A lot of people don't really know what SailGP is about,' says Sir Ben Ainslie, the four-time Olympic champion sailor. 'And when they see it, it blows their mind. It's not what anyone would think sailing is about.' Gone are the days of boats sent out to become tiny specks in the distance, only to return hours later for gin and tonics at the yacht club. The sport has traditionally been pinned around two dominant events: the Olympics and the America's Cup. In 2018, billionaire tech tycoon Larry Ellison and Sir Russell Coutts, one of the greatest sailors of all time, set out to change that. Their league, SailGP, is fast and at times dangerous. It was designed to be the antithesis of what those at the heart of sailing know the stereotype to be. The format is similar to Formula One, with teams, each representing a country, competing in different venues around the world. There are 12 stops this season in venues such as Saint-Tropez, Sydney and last weekend's event in New York. As for the boats, the ultra-light F50 catamarans are equipped with carbon fiber hydrofoils, launching them above the water at high speeds. 'The perfect lap would be a lap where you didn't touch down, where you were foiling 100% of the time, which means the boat is around about 98% out of the water,' notes broadcaster Georgie Ainslie, husband of Ben. 'That isn't sailing. That's flying.' As the league has grown, SailGP has increased the number of teams – and generated headlines by drawing in a string of Hollywood celebrities as owners. Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds recently became co-owners of the three-time champion Australian team, weeks after a consortium including Anne Hathaway acquired Red Bull Italy. The British team, Emirates GBR, was first to be sold; Ainslie and businessman Chris Bake bought a majority stake in 2021, and took further investment the following year, valuing the team at $40m. Dylan Fletcher, who won Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020, served as British team driver during SailGP's first season, but Ainslie took the spot in the second campaign. When Ainslie stepped off the boat last January, citing other commitments, he tapped another British Olympic gold medallist, Giles Scott, to take his place. But then Ainslie chose Fletcher over Scott to be his co-helm for the America's Cup – a decision Scott said left him 'freaking gutted' – and another SailGP team came knocking. Scott shifted to the Canadian team. Emirates GBR brought back Fletcher. 'There's a lot of weight on my shoulders,' says Fletcher, but returning was not a difficult decision: it 'wasn't through choice' he left in the first place. After a strong start this season, with top three finishes at the first three events, Emirates GBR has slipped. The first day of racing in New York, in challenging conditions, left the team in 10th place out of 12 at the event. 'Don't tell me, because I don't wanna know,' two-time Olympic champion Hannah Mills, who serves as the team's strategist, says of the standings after returning to shore. It was a 'bit carnagey' out there, she adds. 'Lots to look at, but I do feel like we're in a really good place as a team.' The second day proved more successful, and Emirates GBR finished eighth in the event, and left New York fourth in the league. That morning, Ainslie had advised Fletcher against going 'all out', and instead to concentrate on putting 'building blocks in place for Portsmouth'. SailGP will land in the UK next month for the first time in three years. The grandstands will have capacity for 10,000 each day at an event organisers hope might be of a similar scale to the New Zealand Sail Grand Prix in Auckland, which drew 25,000 people over two days: a crowd 'I never expected, really, to see in the sport of sailing', says Fletcher. The Portsmouth event is a golden opportunity for Ainslie's racing team to grow the British audience of SailGP, and attract a new generation of potential sailors and fans. But in recent months, the most explosive action has taken place off the water. Inside a shipping container at the tech site of last weekend's SailGP event, Ainslie is discussing the fortunes of his team when he makes the case for a bit of turmoil. 'When times are going well and everyone's sort of high-fiving and whatnot, you know, that's great,' he says. But it's only when 'you're up against the challenges' that 'any organisation' has the chance to pull together and test its mettle. It's safe to assume that few high fives were being exchanged inside Ainslie's Athena Sports Group back in January. Three months after he led a British boat to contest the America's Cup for the first time in 60 years, with the backing of billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his Ineos empire, Ratcliffe pulled his support – and announced he would proceed without Ainslie, who promptly warned of 'legal and practical obstacles' for the tycoon's plan. The split marked the end of a multi-year partnership. Ratcliffe and Ineos are said to have spent around £240m on the project. In an interview with the Guardian, Ainslie is first to reference the events of recent months: 'plenty of turmoil' to test his organization, he says with a laugh. So what happened? The background chatter inside the container – transformed into an office for his team at SailGP – noticeably fades. 'Look, I can't really talk too much about it, because it's still quite a delicate situation,' he says, tentatively. 'Ultimately, as people can probably see, we ended up with a different view, a different opinion, on how we should move forwards on many different fronts.' Should Ainslie, sailor turned CEO, ever pursue a new career, diplomacy is not out of reach. There were 'quite a number of factors' and 'accusations' behind the split with Ratcliffe, he says, declining to detail a single one. But when he wants to make a point, he does not hesitate. The situation is 'a bit of a David and Goliath scenario', he says – twice, for good measure. The fallout between Ainslie and Ratcliffe – who, through Ineos, also co-owns Manchester United and backs the Ineos Grenadiers cycling team – was billed by some as a battle between two knights of the realm, and giants of British sport. But only one is worth an estimated £17bn. Last month, Ratcliffe appeared to back down. 'Unfortunately, the opportunity has slipped away,' he said. Ineos blamed 'protracted' negotiations with Athena, which insisted all along that it – rather than Ratcliffe's venture – was the official Challenger of Record for the next America's Cup. 'It's not been an easy time,' says Ainslie, an understatement perhaps bigger than the 75ft Britannia racing yacht he sailed in Barcelona at the America's Cup last October. 'But what it has done, it's really created a huge amount of resolve in the team ... Going to keep at it, come what may.' Ainslie is focused on 'holding the team together', he says. David, having seen off Goliath, now needs to get a lot bigger – fast. Previous America's Cup campaigns have cost in the region of £100m, although he hopes this one might be nearer £50m. Athena is now rebuilding 'from scratch', says Jo Grindley, chief marketing and commercial officer, who has worked with Ainslie since 2001, and helped secure tens of millions of pounds for successive America's Cup campaigns. For months, they have been quietly speaking with prospective sponsors and private investors for the next challenge. 'Hopefully in the coming weeks … that will all fall together,' says Grindley. Working on campaigns from SailGP to the America's Cup, Ainslie, 48, has been able drawn upon a batch of other Olympic champions, like Scott, Fletcher and Mills, all 37. But in recent years, he has been increasingly preoccupied by a looming question: who's next? Mills and Ainslie set up Athena Pathway to help get more women and young people into sailing, and provide opportunities for promising talent. The initiative put forward teams for the Women's America's Cup and Youth America's Cup last year. 'Holy shit,' thought Mills, as she led the women's team on the water. 'This feels big.' To improve the accessibility of foiling, the style of sailing at the heart of SailGP, Athena is training up young sailors on a fleet of single-handed WASZP dinghies in Weymouth. Kai Hockley, recruited aged 18 as a development sailor last summer, is embedded with its SailGP team, and due to compete at this summer's WASZP Games. Teams in SailGP, unlike most sports, are mixed. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Martine Grael became the league's first female driver, for the Brazilian team, this season. Mills, although quick to emphasise that Fletcher is doing a 'phenomenal job' for Emirates GBR, is keen to follow in Grael's footsteps. 'You never know when the opportunity might come,' she says. 'You just have to be as ready as you can be, and in the best place possible, so that you're the obvious choice if it does come.' Ainslie, whose mind rarely drifts far from the America's Cup, claims he 'most likely' won't be on the water this time around. 'I mean, look, I'm 48, you know? Not getting any younger,' he says, stressing he has yet to make any decisions. With two helmsmen required, Fletcher is 'doing a great job' in SailGP, he suggests; Scott is also a 'huge talent'. 'It's about identifying who can come through and do that job, and do that job better than I can do,' says Ainslie. 'My job over the coming months is to pull that together and see where we end up. I would definitely say I put myself down as a Plan B as a sailor.' While at peace with the transition to shore, Ainslie describes himself as a 'frustrated armchair sailor' when others take to the water. 'I'd like to say that it's absolutely fine, and I'm really cool and relaxed. I think I'd be lying,' he says. 'But also, there's something – there's some kind of satisfaction – from seeing the team doing really well.' His workload as CEO is not getting lighter. On top of overseeing another America's Cup campaign, a SailGP team and Athena Pathway, he and his wife launched a performance supplement brand last year. The focus is shifting to life 'after sailing', according to Georgie Ainslie. 'You can't just assume that, forever in a day, there'll just be Ben and the boat,' she says, with a grin. 'There has to be something beyond Ben and the boat!' A few days after our encounter in the container, however, Ainslie's team follows up with a clarification: he's not quite beyond the boat yet. His role in the next America's Cup 'will very much depend on the requirements of the team', he says in a statement. 'This will also be influenced by the rules of the next America's Cup and the talent available to the team. I would certainly never say never!' More than a decade has passed since Ainslie, who won the America's Cup with Oracle Team USA in 2013, first launched a British bid. Three subsequent attempts fell short; each as all-encompassing as the last. 'The last year has been a challenge. But at the same time, I think we've all understood that we've just got to get through it,' says Georgie Ainslie. 'Ultimately, Ben's goal is to win the America's Cup, for Britain. All he wants to do is do that … I know he will try until he can try no more to make that happen.' Ainslie laughs when asked if he's ever thought about walking away. 'Not really,' he replies. 'We set a goal to do it,' he says, as if it would be irrational to even consider jumping ship. 'You want to achieve it, don't you?' 'If you're going to take on something that's hard – and America's Cup is properly hard – it's going to require a bit of grit and determination,' says Ainslie. 'Because it's really, really not easy. And you've got to accept there's going to be tough moments, and it's going to take some time. But we're committed to the cause.'
Scottish Sun
39 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
‘One of stupidest things I've ever done' – Shane Lowry speechless after forgetting most basic rule of golf at US Open
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The Sun
39 minutes ago
- The Sun
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