Paul Kimmage: We have no idea how hard professional sport is for those who toil inside the ropes
'It was intense out there,' Noren told me Sunday night. 'Scottie was intense. I was intense. I was intense. The course is hard. It's Sunday at a Major, in the last group. It's very intense.' Noren was doing his own thing, as best he could, to the degree he could. He shot 76 and tied for 17th.
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Irish Independent
6 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Rory McIlroy admits ‘concern' for US Open as he crashes to 78 to miss Canadian Open cut
The Masters champion hit just four fairways at TPC Toronto and shot his highest score since opening with a 78 en route to missing the weekend in last year's Open at Royal Troon. "Yeah, of course it concerns me," McIlroy said after his first missed cut since the final Major of the season last July. "You don't want to shoot high scores like the one I did today. "Still, I felt like I came here obviously with a new driver thinking that that was going to be good and solve some of the problems off the tee, but it didn't. "Obviously, going to Oakmont next week, what you need to do more than anything else there is hit fairways. Still searching for the missing piece off the tee. "Obviously, for me, when I get that part of the game clicking, then everything falls into place for me. Right now that isn't. Yeah, that's a concern going into next week." McIlroy had his preferred driver ruled non-conforming at last month's PGA Championship and struggled from the tee there, finishing 14 shots behind winner Scottie Scheffler in joint 47th. He opted for the new TaylorMade model this week but again struggled from the tee en route to missing the cut by a whopping 11 shots. The Holywood star knew he needed to shoot in the 60s to make the cut after opening with a one-over 71. But his hopes evaporated early when he tugged his second out of bounds playing with a wedge from the rough at the 447-yard fifth and ran up a quadruple bogey eight. Further bogeys followed at the eighth and 10th before he blocked his tee shot into a pond at the 197-yard 11th and made a double-bogey five, then dropped another shot at the 13th, where he drove miles left behind a tree. He made his first birdie of the day at the 15th but bogeyed the 17th before finishing with a birdie four. "I think there's still learnings that you have to take from a day like today," said McIlroy, who found just four fairways, two on each nine. "Even though the last two days didn't go the way I wanted them to, there are still things that I can take from it, and there are still things that I can learn. "I'm gonna have to do a lot of practice and a lot of work over the weekend at home to try to at least have a better idea of where my game is going into next week." He has a decision to make about his driver before taking on Oakmont's punishing rough, as eight of his ten misses in round two were to the right. "I didn't hit enough fairways," he said. "I felt like I drove the ball a bit better yesterday than I did today. "I think once I made that big number on the front nine, I was always behind the eight ball a little. And then, after nine holes, I'd sort of resigned myself to the fact that I'd be flying home to Florida tonight. "It was just about trying to make a few good swings, seeing where the misses were, and you're trying to sort of learn as much as I could, just looking ahead to next week." On the driver, he added: "So I went back to a 44-inch driver this week to try to get something that was a little more in control and could try to get something a bit more in play. "But if I'm going to miss fairways, I'd rather have the ball speed and miss the fairway than not. "I said to Harry going down the last, this is obviously the second time this year I've tried the new version [of driver], and it hasn't quite worked out for me. "So I'd say I'll be testing quite a few drivers over the weekend." It was a better day for Shane Lowry, who shot a two-under 68 to go into the weekend tied for seventh, just four shots behind Cameron Champ on eight-under. Champ shot 66 to lead by two shots on 12-under from Andrew Putnam, who shot a best-of-the-day 62.
Irish Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Rory McIlroy meets his match in young fan wearing green jacket
Rory McIlroy showed his class with a funny message for a young fan at the Canadian Open. The young man was adorned in a green jacket quite similar to the one the Holywood native picked up at this year's Masters tournament in Augusta. The Grand Slam winner, having spotted the attire, walked over to the kid and said "It took me a little longer to get one of those," before having a chat with him. It was somewhat out of step with the recent radio silence he has displayed in previous tournaments, stemming from a leak from his camp over a driver failure. He said: "I was a little p***** off because I knew that Scottie's [Scheffler] driver had failed on Monday, but my name was the one that was leaked. "It was supposed to stay confidential. Two members of the media were the ones that leaked it. "Again, I didn't want to get up there and say something that I regretted, either. I'm trying to protect Scottie - I don't want to mention his name. I'm trying to protect TaylorMade. I'm trying to protect the USGA, PGA of America, myself. "I just didn't want to get up there and say something that I regretted at the time. With Scottie's stuff, that's not my information to share. "I knew that that had happened, but that's not on me to share that, and I felt that process is supposed to be kept confidential, and it wasn't for whatever reason. That's why I was pretty annoyed at that." The Canadian Open is largely seen as a warm-up for next week's US Open, with many players looking to dial in their game for the third major of the season. McIlroy will be hoping to reclaim his 2019 and 2022 titles at TPC Toronto to lead him into the US Open in good stead, and if the three-year cycle continues, the omens are good for him. He tees off at 12:40PM Irish time in the first round on Thursday.
The Irish Sun
2 days ago
- The Irish Sun
‘It was supposed to stay confidential' – Rory McIlroy ‘p***ed off' after private information is leaked
RORY McILROY was 'p***ed off' that news of his driver failing technical standards was leaked at last month's USPGA Championship. Two days before the tournament, the club was pulled from his bag after official testing showed it crossed the 'trampoline effect' threshold — when the club face becomes more springy. 2 Rory McIlroy admitted he was frustrated that news of his driver failing a technical test was leaked Credit: Getty 2 Scottie Scheffler's driver also failed Credit: Getty Failures are supposed to be confidential with no blame attached to the player but the news broke on the Friday evening. World No 1 Masters champ Ahead of teeing up in the Canadian Open, which starts today, the Northern Irishman said: 'I was a little p***ed off because I knew that Scottie's driver had failed but my name was the one that was leaked. It was supposed to stay confidential. READ MORE ON GOLF 'I didn't want to get up there and say something that I regretted, either, because I'm trying to protect Scottie, I don't want to mention his name.' He went on to add: "I'm trying to protect TaylorMade. I'm trying to protect the USGA, PGA of America, myself. I just didn't want to get up there and say something that I regretted. "With Scottie's stuff, that's not my information to share. I knew that that had happened, but that's not on me to share that, and I felt that process is supposed to be kept confidential, and it wasn't for whatever reason. That's why I was pretty annoyed at that. "From a responsibility standpoint, look, I understand, but if we all wanted to, we could all bypass you guys and we could just go on this and we could go on social media and we could talk about our round and do it our own way. Most read in Golf CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS "I think there should be an understanding that this is a two-way street, and as much as we need to speak to you guys, we're sort of, like we understand the benefit that comes from you being here and giving us the platform and everything else. So I understand that. "But again, I've been beating this drum for a long time. If they want to make it mandatory, that's fine, but in our rules it says that it's not, and until the day that that's maybe written into the regulations, you're going to have guys skip from time to time, and that's well within our rights." Jack Nicklaus stunned as Rory McIlroy ghosts Memorial Tournament host and golf legend ahead of PGA Tour Signature event Scheffler won the PGA Championship last month, marking his third major title. He finished at 11-under 273, five strokes clear of the field in Charlotte.
