It’s all in the wrist:
McIlroy hopes dead – 93rd PGA Championship
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. – Northern Irish whiz Rory McIlroy, at 22 possibly the hottest young golfer in the world, all but insists that his injured right wrist hasn’t hurt his game. But he did break out in an uncommon rash of bogeys Saturday that killed what little chance he had of adding the PGA Championship to his U.S. Open championship.“It’s fine,” McIlroy said, after shooting 74 for a 7-over 217 total. “Just have it wrapped to give it a little more support, but it’s definitely feeling better than it was yesterday. I mean, I can feel it, but it shouldn’t be an issue with the way I play.”
Then he added: “I found it fine hitting off a tee because you’re not going into the ground and you’re not taking a divot. I find that OK. It’s when I start to hit iron shots, where it become difficult.”
Whatever the case, McIlroy double-bogeyed No. 1 and added three single bogeys and shot 40 on the front, and offset a double bogey at the 15th with three birdies for a 34 coming home.
McIlroy injured the wrist at No. 3 in the first round, trying to hit his ball off a tree root instead of chipping safely back into the fairway.
“Yeah,” he said, “looking back, it probably wasn’t the right thing to do.”
SHADES OF 2001: It’s been 10 years, but David Toms still works the magic that brought him the 2001 PGA at Atlanta Athletic Club. He’s 44 now, but played the course like a young lion Saturday, shooting a 5-under 65 that included a dazzling eagle-birdie-birdie streak coming home. At the par-5 12th, he hit the green in two and holed a 50-foot putt for an eagle. At the par-4 13th, shortened to 272 yards, he drove the green and two-putted for a birdie, and at the par-4 14th, he holed a 45-yard bunker shot for another birdie. He’s only managed two pars and a bogey at the par-3 15th, which he aced in the final round in ’01. “It’s been a tough hole for me, so far,” Toms said. But he’s owned the hole that has been vexing everybody else, the dangerous par-4 18th, playing at 491 yards Saturday. He’s played it birdie-par-birdie. His secret: Hitting driver off the tee, instead of laying up short of trouble as so many do, then hitting a gutsy second over the fronting pond. Said Toms, who’s at 2-under 208: “I’ve hit driver because if I lay back, it’s going to be a really long shot, and one I’ll have to think about before going for the green.”
ONE BAD SHOT DESERVES – BETTER: Hunter Mahan had a good round going till he hit one bad shot at the par-4 No. 8 and ended up with a double bogey. “I was playing so well and just missed one shot,” Mahan said. “It’s really one of the more one-shot penalizing courses I’ve ever seen.” He retaliated with three straight birdies from the 10th and shot 4-under 66, for an even-par 210 total.
TAKING THE 12TH: “I actually made a birdie there,” Matt Kuchar was saying. He was referring to the par-5 12th, which he’d double-bogeyed in the first round. “I felt like I was giving a lot of shots away there.” He was four under for the day and looking pretty good Saturday, and finished with a 2-under 68 and a 210 total. “I should at least have a distant shot at it tomorrow,” he said.
RELUCTANT CONSERVATIVE: Masters champ Charl Schwartzel finally surfaced, shooting a no-bogey 66 to sit at 2-under 208 for the PGA. “I just maybe played a little bit more – I want to say conservative – maybe more clever,” he said. “A few of the holes that were inviting me the first two rounds, I took with a bit more caution today.” Example: The par-4 18th, with its sand and water. He played it 6-5 in the first two rounds, and parred it this time. “Today I went really conservative,” he said. “I hit 3-iron off the tee and left myself with another very big 3-iron.”
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