TA high morale level is unlikely to precede a competitive low score. If Rory McIlroy’s bid for a third US PGA Championship were to be less than one – and for now at least, this remains a big if – his musings on a captivating moment of sportsmanship would be valid.
He went against his own hopes for glory at Harding Park during Friday’s second round by giving himself a clear conscience. His nod to the principles of the game was timely.
Bryson DeChambeau’s intense discussions with rules officials overshadowed all that is good in the Californian’s post-lockdown PGA Tour run. If there is an envelope, DeChambeau will push it. Players who operate in the spirit of the rules should always be more praiseworthy than those who see them as a way to gain a marginal advantage.
The absence of viewers at the first major of 2020 has countless side effects, even for someone as prominent as McIlroy. Finding wayward balls is more complicated without several thousand spotters. So it proved in the 3rd short when McIlroy asked a search team to locate a loose tee shot. The ball was located only after a member of the media stopped on it.
McIlroy was granted a drop, creating the original lie as before a size 10 shoe was planted on his ball. When McIlroy took relief, the position was favorable. Uncomfortable with this, world No. 1 recently deposed pushed the ball further down the grass. The fact that an expensive bogey ensued did not alter McIlroy’s belief that he had done the right thing.
“I wouldn’t have felt comfortable,” McIlroy said of his original launch. “I put it on and the rule is to try to replicate the lie. Nobody really knew what the lie was, but if everyone goes around looking for it, it obviously wasn’t too good. So I entered it, I thought, “It doesn’t seem right.” So I put it down a bit.
“Golf is a game of integrity and I never try to get away with anything out there. I prefer to be on the wrong side of the rules rather than the right side because as golfers, this is just what we believe in. “
Colin Montgomerie never fully experienced a controversial dip at the 2005 Indonesian Open. Instead, McIlroy’s move evoked the memories of his compatriot and childhood influence, Darren Clarke, at the 2006 Irish Open. Carton House had been abandoned due to bad weather, with Clarke two shots ahead. He returned for a late final Monday to find that his originally rough ball had been adjusted to be in a position where the green could be hit by two.
“He was so much better than when I left him,” Clarke said later. He chipped sideways, the only blow he could have initially hit, and was widely praised. “Honesty is an integral part of the game and I couldn’t have acted differently,” he said. Thomas Bjørn beat Clarke to win the tournament.
The galleries were so fundamental. Paul Casey became the last player to admit he struggled with the absence of fans. “I really missed it, plain and simple,” said the Englishman, who stood out in the US PGA.
“I felt I wasn’t able to just get the excitement, the lack of energy and everything related to having fans at a sporting event. I really miss it.”
While that was also McIlroy’s default position, he could see the side benefits by spending days one and two with Tiger Woods. The gathering of the event tent, which would normally be submerged by crowds, took place in relative tranquility. “It’s a lot easier,” said Woods’ accompaniment McIlroy.
“I’m happy to be attracted to him every week until the fans return. On the twelfth hole, the tee box there down the road, Tiger gets on the tee and everyone [looking through the fence] goes crazy and you have to wait for them to settle down.
“The fact that we don’t have to deal with this and he doesn’t have to deal with that every week is pretty nice. I still want the crowd to come back. It is much better to play in front of them. But it makes it easier [with Woods]”.
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