Rory McIlroy at WGC-Cadillac Championship 2015: Daily Leaderboard Score Updates
Rory McIlroy's 2015 debut on the PGA Tour didn't exactly go to plan, as he failed to make the cut at The Honda Classic. He has the opportunity to reverse course this weekend, however, as he tees it up at the WGC-Cadillac Championship in Miami.
Below, we'll take a look at the tournament's leaderboard along with recapping McIlroy's performance at the event.
Leaderboard
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Sunday Recap
Rory McIlroy won't walk away with his first PGA victory of 2015. He won't even walk away with his first round stateside in the 70s. That said, his consistently inconsistent four rounds of golf did allow him to leave Doral with a top-10 finish under his belt.
McIlroy carded his second straight even-par 72 on Sunday, finishing the tournament one-under par after yet another round fraught with ups and downs.
| Par | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 36 |
| Score | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 35 |
| Par | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 72 |
| Score | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 72 |
Starting the day in a tie for 12th place, McIlroy's day began with a steady dose of pars. He played the first four holes at even before dropping back to even par with a bogey on the fifth, setting the stage for the remainder of the round, which was far more typical of his weekend.
After parring Nos. 6 and 7, McIlroy played his best stretch of golf of the tournament. He birdied Nos. 8 and 9 to make the turn at one under and added another back-to-back stretch on No. 11 and No. 12. With a majority of the leaders coming back to the field and McIlroy sitting at four under, it briefly looked like the world's top-ranked golfer would ascend for a thrilling comeback.
It wasn't to be.
McIlroy played the rest of the way at three over, hitting a poor approach on No. 15 to card a bogey and then closing his tournament with an adventurous No. 18. For the second time this week, the Northern Irishman dropped his approach into the drink on Doral's final hole, the first of course leading to his infamous chucking of his 3-iron into the water.
In a moment of self-awareness, McIlroy quickly pretended to chuck his club into the water again before smiling. He went out with a double-bogey, finishing his tournament in a similar fashion to his most memorable moment of the week. The club in question was also returned to McIlroy by tournament host Donald Trump, who joked he's "resigned" to hitting the ball into the water on No. 18.
“That hole is so tough, I’m just resigned to knowing I’m going in the water anyway,” Trump said, per Steve Dimeglio of USA Today. “Rory’s a great kid, a great player. Anything he does is news. It showed a human touch. He’s such a fantastic person. And even the throw was beautiful.”
While still imperfect, it's promising that McIlroy can stay on the fringe of contention even when his game isn't at its best. With the golf world fully at his mercy due to Tiger Woods still battling constant injuries, McIlroy's performance has constantly been under a microscope. Any tournament he's not in contention on Sunday is going to draw lower ratings and less national attention.
That he was able to fight through obvious frustration to earn a top-10 finish should help him as he prepares for the Masters.
Saturday Recap
After a frustrating first two rounds at the WGC-Cadillac Championship, McIlroy once again struggled to find his rhythm during Saturday's third round.
The world No. 1 failed to gain much ground on the leaders as he ended the day with an even-par 72, and entered the clubhouse in a tie for 12th, eight shots off the pace at one-under for the tournament.
Here is a look at McIlroy's scorecard after what most would categorize as an inconsistent round of golf, courtesy of WorldGolfChampionships.com:
| Par | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
| Score | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 4 |
| Total | -1 | -1 | -2 | -2 | -2 | -2 | -3 | -2 | -1 |
| Par | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Score | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Total | -1 | -2 | -2 | -1 | E | E | -1 | -1 | -1 |
Following a slow start to the tournament, McIlroy entered the third round with designs on making a run with a strong finish, per Steve DiMeglio of USA Today.
"I've got two more days to try and find something out there and shoot a couple of decent numbers and see where that leaves me at the end of the week," McIlroy said.
He is putting all his eggs in the fourth-round basket at this point, though, as things didn't get any better for him Saturday.
The Northern Irish star didn't chuck another club into the water like he did Friday, but he probably would've liked to as he often alternated birdies and bogeys, which prevented him from making a move up the leaderboard.
There was some concern that McIlroy would be down a three-iron after his second-round antics, but Nike acted quickly to ensure that wasn't the case, according to Golf Channel's Todd Lewis:
"As soon as @McIlroyRory rinsed his 3-iron @nikegolf was building him another one. The new 3-iron arrived this a.m. & will be in Rory's bag.
— Todd Lewis (@ToddLewisGC) March 7, 2015"
PGATour.com's Brian Wacker tweeted a photo of Rory's bag prior to the third round with his knew three-iron joining the arsenal:
McIlroy seemed to have put Friday's issues behind him initially as he started off strong Saturday. After birdies on the third and seventh holes, the 25-year-old star moved into the top 10 despite his previous struggles, per Justin Ray of GolfChannel.com:
Unfortunately for McIlroy, things started to go downhill from there. He followed up his birdie on the seventh with back-to-back bogeys to close the front nine.
That dropped Rory back to even par for the day and one-under for the tournament. He was able to recover a stroke with a three on the par-four 11th, but he once again gave it back two holes later with another bogey.
Things started to snowball a bit from there as McIlroy then posted another bogey on the 14th, which left him at a disappointing one-over par for the third round.
Following a part on the 15th, however, he got a stroke back on the 16th by registering his fourth birdie of the day. After playing such up-and-down golf throughout the day, though, the effort simply came too late in terms of positioning himself to make a run Sunday.
It would take a miraculous combination of flawless play from McIlroy and faltering from those in front of him in order for him to be a factor in the fourth round.
While that is unlikely to happen, sneaking into the top 10 would be a positive result for several reasons. After missing the cut at the Honda Classic and struggling throughout much of the WGC-Cadillac Championship's first three rounds, cracking the top 10 would likely give Rory some confidence moving forward.
He still has time to work out the kinks prior to major season, and Sunday's fourth round could mark the beginning of that process.
Friday Recap
| Par | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
| Score | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 3 |
| Total | E | -1 | E | +1 | +1 | +1 | E | +1 | +1 |
| Par | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Score | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| Total | E | E | -1 | -1 | E | E | E | -1 | -1 |
An up-and-down afternoon for McIlroy in the second round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship featured one major highlight. Unfortunately for the Northern Irishman, it wasn't a long putt or holing out from the fairway to drop a couple quick strokes.
Instead, it was a frustrated McIlroy whipping his club into the water after his approach shot on the eighth hole also ended up wet. He was coming off a birdie on the seventh and trying to build momentum before the setback:
Stan Verrett of ESPN had never seen that from a pro player:
"Mcilroy! Anybody else see that? He might need that club later. Can't say I've ever seen that from a pro.
— stan verrett (@stanverrett) March 6, 2015"
Jason Sobel of Golf Channel joked about the missing club as McIlroy hit the ninth tee box:
It was that kind of day for the world's top player. At times, including early in the day as he posted two straight birdies to open his round, it looked like he was ready to make a charge. He kept giving the shots back, though.
After those birdies to start, he carded a pair of bogeys. It wasn't until the fifth hole that he finally walked away with a par. Craig Dolch of Golf Exchange notes that ended a hectic stretch that dated back to the latter stages of Round 1:
Add in the birdie on No. 7 followed by the club-tossing incident on the eighth and he emerged from the front nine at even par for the round. Three birdies, three bogeys and three pars on the front half.
He attempted to restart the rally on the back nine. He dropped two strokes over the first three holes. He got himself in trouble by finding the bunker at No. 14. His shot from the sand gave him a chance to save part, but his effort from five feet slid wide.
The four-time major champion did end the round on a high note. His approach shot on 17 gave him a mid-range look for birdie from about 20 feet and he converted. It brought him back under par for the tournament.
He tapped in for par on the 18th to finish at 1-under overall. The PGA Tour summed it all up:
All told, there was a chance for McIlroy to go super low on Friday. He had a handful of birdies and more were available with slightly better play. His ball-striking simply hasn't been as consistently pure over the last few weeks, however, and that continued in the second round at Doral.
He walked off the course nine strokes behind tournament leader J.B. Holmes. Since winning is obviously a long shot, returning to top form is the main focus. A couple nice weekend rounds will help him regain confidence heading toward The Masters.
No more clubs in the water would probably be a good start.
Thursday Recap
For the second tournament in a row, it appeared a poor opening round would put McIlroy out of contention early in the event.
But despite struggling out of the gate on Thursday, the star golfer finished strongly with three birdies and an eagle on the last five holes to shoot a one-over 73. Unfortunately for McIlroy, he bogeyed the other two holes to somewhat temper his late revival.
| Par | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Score | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Par | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
| Score | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
For the day, McIlroy hit 61.1 percent of his greens in regulation and averaged a driving distance of 315.5 yards, per PGATour.com. His minus-1.37 strokes gained in putting was certainly a very disappointing result.
McIlroy, who opened on the back nine, couldn't get much going in his first 12 holes, stumbling to a four-over start after two bogeys and a double-bogey. Bob Harig of ESPN has more on his early struggles:
He didn't birdie a single hole until No. 4 and followed it up with another birdie on No. 5.
It was a day of pretty dramatic highs and lows for McIlroy. Perhaps nothing better demonstrated that than this sequence on No. 16 , via the PGATour on Twitter:
Still, even then it appeared his momentum was quickly lost, as he bogeyed No. 6. But McIlroy seemed primed to finish with a flourish after shooting a combined three under on Nos. 7 and 8.
Here is his brilliant eagle:
Once again, however, he couldn't stretch together more than two good holes in a row, bogeying No. 9. It actually could have been much worse, as he hit into two bunkers and had a tough putt to even bogey the hole, but McIlroy surely will be kicking himself for not putting a better cap on his day.
If nothing else, it was a testament to just how talented McIlroy truly is and how dominant he can be. Even on a day when he was clearly battling himself, he managed to find a rhythm and put himself in a position to at least finish somewhat near the top of the leaderboard with a strong weekend (there isn't a cut at the WGC-Cadillac Championship, so he doesn't have to concern himself on that front).
Still, it's also clear McIlroy isn't on his game at the moment. He was likely hoping for a better start after being bitterly disappointed with The Honda Open result, which he discussed with BBC Sport:
"Sometimes you need a little kick in the backside to make you realise what you need to do. I was disappointed but I feel it has given me clarity on what I needed.
I could have approached it two ways. I could have got really down on myself and wondered where that had come from, or thought, 'This was the first event after a three-week break and there were things that needed to be sharper.'
"
It looks like things still need to be sharper. But as McIlroy showed in flashes on Thursday, he's still brilliant and a force to be reckoned with when he's on his game. If he can consistently find his groove in the coming days, he could yet fight his way back up the leaderboard.
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