Rory McIlroy’s Putt Woes Steal Genesis Invitational Momentum
Rory McIlroy suffered a major setback on Saturday during the third round of The Genesis Invitational, more specifically at Torrey Pines’ South Course. His disappointing putting led to him finishing the round with a score of 2-over-par, which dropped him down to eighth place on the leaderboard. Now he shares this position with several players. Scottie Scheffler has a much tighter race heading into the last round.
His round featured a double-bogey (plus two more bogeys) and just two birdies. Strokes Gained: Putting was where his most serious issue lay. He posted a minus 3.9. It is his worst round of putting in the last decade. This goes back to 2014’s Wells Fargo Championship. Justin Ray from the Golf Statistics Association highlighted this statistic to emphasize the unique struggles McIlroy experienced on the greens.
McIlroy needed 32 putts in order to finish his round. In particular, McIlroy three-putted the 6th and 16th holes, which resulted in a bogey. The fact that he missed almost 18% his putts between 10 and 15 feet was in stark contrast with his normal accuracy. In addition, he failed to take advantage of 11 birdie shots. His score was severely affected by the combination of short-putts missed and missed chances.
McIlroy is still within striking distance of his lead despite the difficult day. Patrick Rodgers is the current leader on the leaderboard, with an 8-under score. He’s five strokes ahead of McIlroy. McIlroy will tee-off in the final round of the Genesis Invitational at 1:20 pm Eastern Time. He’ll be playing with Scottie Schaffler, who had a tough day on Saturday and posted his lowest round in years. The pairing will set the scene for a thrilling final round, where both players are looking to bounce back and compete for the Genesis Invitational.
Michael Owens/Getty Images
McIlroy’s second round was a far cry from the Saturday struggles. He shot a score of 5-under-67. Seven birdies out of two bogeys made this score impressive. It set him up well for the rest of the tournament. McIlroy admitted that, despite the positive outcome, he still could have improved on his score. This was especially true for the par-5s.
McIlroy gave his performance a “B-plus.” “I scrambled really well, and I hit some great shots. I also played very well. The par-5s were not taken advantage of. I had only birdied one on nine, hit in the fairway at 6 but didn’t get a birdie. I also didn’t par-five the two holes on the rear nine.
He said, “Look I played better on other holes, and that was good, but now I have to do it again at the end of the week.” “I know going into the weekend I’m going to have to play the par 5s better.”
The first round of his tournament also showed solid play. His even-par score of 72 with two birdies, and two bogeys demonstrated consistency.
McIlroy is known for his track record on Torrey Pines’ South Course. Three of his four previous starts have resulted in top-10 finishes. Two were top-5s. He has shown his ability to succeed on the course in the past, with a 7th-place finish on the same course at the U.S. Open 2021 and 3 other solid showings at Farmers Insurance Open. His experience will be crucial to his ability to recover from the poor putting of round 3.