Rory McIlroy at US Open 2016: Leaderboard Score, Twitter Reaction from Friday
World No. 3 Rory McIlroy is in deep trouble after he completed a seven-over 77 first round at the U.S. Open Friday morning. He sits in a tie for 119th and is four strokes behind the cut line.
Golf Digest's Mike O'Malley pointed out that this was one of his worst performances at the U.S. Open:
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Here is how his tough round that spanned over two days looked:
| Par | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| Score | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| Par | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Score | 4 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
McIlroy was able to get 15 holes out of the way Thursday before rain delayed his round and ultimately cut it short.
After the first three holes, he was already two over, before his first and only bogey of the round got him back to one over.
He attempted to navigate the difficult Oakmont Country Club, which was giving many golfers problems throughout the day, but he just couldn't find a way to get his score any lower.
A bogey on No. 7 was the final blemish of his front nine before the wheels fell off on the turn.
McIlroy bogeyed No. 12 and 13, as his score swelled to four over before his play was suspended Thursday. A change in the calendar to Friday didn't do much to help him, though, as he bogeyed all three of his final holes to settle at seven over.
The Weekend Golfer tried to sum up his efforts as quickly as possible:
Yahoo Sports' Jay Busbee jokingly believed that this was all part of McIlroy's master plan:
McIlroy spoke about his performance with the media after his round, per Phil Casey of The Independent: "It was hard yesterday to get into any sort of rhythm. And when you are not in control of your swing it was compounded by being so stop-start."
That uncontrolled swing put up some woeful stats Thursday and Friday:
| Driving Accuracy | 35.71% | T145 |
| Greens In Regulation | 44.44% | T128 |
| Putts Per GIR | 2.000 | T85 |
However, McIlroy has a game plan heading into Saturday's second round, as he's set to tee off at 8:39 a.m. ET, via Casey:
"Right now I need to focus on hitting fairways and greens. I think I hit five fairways and eight greens which is not going to do anything. I hit irons off the tee on the first three holes and missed three fairways. With the course playing so soft I might just hit a lot more drivers and be as aggressive as I can.
"
Aggression will be the only way for McIlroy to get four strokes back Saturday in order to stay in this tournament. With Oakmont proving to be its usual difficult self, McIlroy will have to take the calculated risks necessary to set him up in favorable situations to lower his score.
If he is unable to figure out the course quickly, though, he'll crash out of the competition earlier than many expected.
Stats courtesy of PGATour.com
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