There are drives, then there are Rory McIlroy drives.
Always aware of the moment, McIlroy was 1 up against Denny McCarthy late today standing on the 18th tee at the WGC–Dell Match Play. They were the last match on the course, the other 31 already complete.
Hitting first into the 375-yard (343-metre), par-4 home hole, McIlroy carried the ball 349 yards (about 320 metres!), his ball bounced on the front of the green and came to rest just inside four feet of the cup. (Three feet, nine inches to be exact.)
McCarthy was short of the green off the tee, chipped to seven feet and conceded to putt and the match to McIlroy. So no, he didn’t even have to make the eagle attempt, and won 2 up.
Just watch here in amazement.
https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/1639051506979569665?s=20
“It was good,” McIlroy said. “I didn’t think that I could get it on the green.”
McIlroy is now 2-0 in his group and will face Keegan Bradley tomorrow with a chance to move to the round of 16. He only needs to tie to advance.
Earlier in the week McIlroy made headlines for making a minor change to his driver set-up, coming only two weeks before the Masters, where he’s looking for the final piece of a career Grand Slam. He changed the shaft in his TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus driver and shortened his shaft from 44½ inches to 44 inches, saying it gives him less of a chance to hit a two-way miss off the tee.
Seems like a good move.
