Rory McIlroy at Barclays 2016: Sunday Leaderboard Score and Reaction
Rory McIlroy's 15-month PGA Tour win drought won't end at the Barclays.
The world No. 5 shot a two-over 73 in Sunday's fourth round, putting him at even par overall for the tournament and into the clubhouse in 32nd place.
Despite putting himself in an occasional position to go low, McIlroy never contended at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York. He shot even-par rounds of 71 in the first and third rounds, sandwiching in a promising second-round 69 that he never quite built on. Entering his late-morning round seven strokes behind leader Rickie Fowler, McIlroy knew he needed to go low to make a dent on the leaderboard.
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| Par | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 36 | |
| Score | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 37 | |
| Par | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 35 | 71 |
| Score | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 36 | 73 |
His round never got off the ground.
McIlroy began his scoring with a bogey on No. 2, rolling a four-foot par putt more than three feet past the hole. Four of the next five holes saw him miss birdie putts—all coming within a foot of the hole—before he splashed a tee shot into the bunker on the par-three eighth and two-putted to go to two over.
The Northern Irishman finally got a birdie putt to drop from a little outside 10 feet on No. 9 and seemed to be turning his round around. He added another birdie on the par-four 10th and then sank a 17-foot bird on the par-five 13th. After playing some of his worst front-nine golf of the week on his first nine holes, it seemed like McIlroy might sneak his way back into top-10 contention.
Again, things were not as they appeared.
McIlroy parred the 14th and 15th before things went off the rails at No. 16. A 313-yard fairway drive set things up well before McIlroy had an adventure near the green. His approach went into the greenside bunker about 45 feet away from the hole, and his pitch out managed to just make it into the rough. Left with a difficult chip for par, McIlroy mishit again and left himself 31 feet away for par. He hit that putt about five feet long and ran his bogey putt long as well before tapping in for a double.
That hole was the worst of his adventures for the day, dropping him to one over on the round. He finished out with a par on No. 17 and a bogey on the 18th, missing a par attempt from just inside five feet that would have kept him in the top 30.
McIlroy has not won on the PGA Tour since last May's Wells Fargo Championship and has just one win overall in this calendar year. He came into this week having been cut twice in his last three events and flailing on the greens heading into the Ryder Cup.
With the weight of Europe resting firmly on his shoulders heading into the international event, McIlroy is going to have his work cut out in improving his game. He hasn't been in consistently good form since that strong run of tournaments he had going into his cut at the U.S. Open.
For the Barclays, McIlroy hit just 51.8 percent of his fairways, needed more than 1.8 putts per green in regulation and saved on only a third of his sand shots. Given those numbers, it's a minor miracle he wound up at even for the tournament.
That will be little solace overall in what's been a disappointing 2016.
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