Rory McIlory may have entered Thursday’s first round at the U.S. Open with some momentum after winning the RBC Canadian Open last weekend. But his adventure on the fifth hole showed that, no matter a golfer’s form, the U.S. Open conditions will always prevail.
McIlroy got into a stick situation when his ball plugged into some deep rough on the edge of a fairway bunker. He was forced to stand in the bunker—with the ball nestled around hip height—and try to punch out into greener pastures. Alas, he couldn’t really anticipate what the ball would do upon impact and didn’t swing quite hard enough, ultimately landing in a second fairway bunker just in front of him.
His reaction was, shall we say, unrestrained.
Give McIlroy some credit: this was no brash response. He even took a couple moments after the shot to look back at where his ball was and consider his options before opting to take a couple of whacks at the sand and let his frustrations out. It could have been worse—he could have gone with a club toss, or taken a chunk out of the grass instead. If nothing else, McIlroy’s outburst shows that even professional golfers can look like amateurs every once in a while.
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But McIlroy’s brief moment of appearing human was short-lived. He actually went on to save par on that hole, and ended the day with a 3-under 67 and tied for the first-round lead. Let’s just hope he raked that bunker before moving on to hit his next shot.
