Ed. note re: the headline: To be clear, I’m being facetious. It’s obviously pure speculation since the cut line has yet to be determined and we do not have knowledge of Rory’s weekend plans, if he does indeed have the weekend off.
The Open cut is the deepest
So much for defending his U.S. Open title at Olympic Club. Rory McIlroy, who blew the field away by eight shots last year at Congressional, followed his first-round seven-over 77 with a three-over 73 in the second round for a two-day total of 10-over.
With the afternoon wave still on the course, McIlroy will need some help from the field, which should happen. The current cut line is five-over, but expect it to move back to at least eight-over and possibly nine or 10 (just a guesstimate).
So Mcilroy still has a chance to make up ground over the weekend. However, if he misses the cut, it will be the fourth in his last five starts.
What I find most disappointing has nothing to do with Rory’s scores. After both rounds on Thursday and Friday, McIlroy declined interviews — a very un-Rory move. A pool reporter got quotes from him in the locker room following the first round and a group of scribes did the same this afternoon.
The 23-year-old defending champion is obviously disappointed.
“I left myself with a lot of work to do after yesterday’s round, and to be honest overall I don’t feel like I played that badly for the last two days,” said Rory. “It’s just such a demanding golf course and just punishes the slight test shot that’s off line or that’s maybe not the right distance or whatever and that’s how I feel. I feel like you really have to be so precise out there and if you’re not, you’re going to get punished.”
Precision has been emphasized for weeks and months leading up to the championship. Maybe it’s a bit overdone, but like I wrote in my Casey Martin piece, that’s expected at the U.S. Open (obviously I don’t have to play it, thank god). It’s not exactly the most “enjoyable” golf of the year.
McIlroy said he knew he needed a few birdies coming in, so he tried to play as aggressive as possible and went for pins. He actually had several good opportunities, but his putting was suspect.
“I had a good look for birdie on 6 and didn’t take it,” he said. “And then I a look at eagle on 7 and made birdie there and had a good birdie look at 8 and once I missed that, I thought that if I holed that putt 8‑over might have a chance to make the cut. But once that was missed, I knew that I probably wouldn’t make it through the weekend.
“But as I said, I felt like I had some good shots out there and I don’t think the score that’s on the board really reflects how I played.”
Many have attributed McIlroy’s recent poor play to his lack of focus and globe-trotting with tennis star girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki.
Even Rory has implied that he’s been distracted. He admitted that his play the last month has been humbling.
“I just realized that you just got to keep working hard,” he said. “It doesn’t come easy to you all the time yeah. It hasn’t been the greatest run over the last six weeks or whatever it is; but as I said, I still see enough good stuff in the rounds that it does give me hope that it’s not very far away.”
After missing the cut at The Players, Rory hopped on a plane to Europe to meet up with Wozniacki. Then, his week at Wentworth for the European PGA Championship was cut short, so he made a pit stop in Paris before flying to Memorial to work on his game.
Now maybe it’s just me, but it seems like Rory’s adjusted his schedule much more to see Wozniacki than she has. I know, women! We’re so manipulative!
McIlroy said he was going to go home to prepare for the Irish Open and links golf, but he didn’t specify his immediate travel plans. Well, I wouldn’t be surprised if McIlroy’s booked a flight for England.
It’s a shame, really. As loyal WUP readers know, I’ve been high on McIlroy since most of you even had him on your radar — at the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage, he had me with the first swing I saw him take. I understand young love is exciting and fun, and I respect Rory for being well-rounded, but there’s a line. At some point he has to decide whether he wants to realize his potential as a champion golfer or let that talent go to waste. He’ll still be better than most if he goes with the latter, but it’s a shame to those of us who wish we had even 1% of McIlroy’s talent and let distractions hinder him.
Luckily, Rory is only 23 and has time to turn it around and refocus. Well, actually, if he wants to jet-set and live the life, then go for it. I’m clearly being selfish here.
(Getty Images/Andrew Redington)
Who cares about Rory….Can we get a post and photos about Bo Hosslers mom? MILF
Beau’s mom is pretty hott. Poor kid… I have a bad feeling his mom will get more attention than him. Something tells me there will be other pictures surfacing of Beau’s mom on the internet.
Nearly every player goes through stuff like this, look at Phil’s 2nd year on tour. He’s still learning how to be a top flight pro. You need a balance and to do things other than golf, and take breaks.
And most everyone who constantly gets asked for post game/round analysis will blow you off at some point. It’s just a hard thing to do in any sport. Instead, appreciate it when someone says yes.
Not saying my life was great
at 23. But I had my priorities
right. Work! Career! Any of
the girlfriends I met were
a very nice bonus. Fish or cut
bait as JN said recently.
So, Rory: Prove to us you are
worth following. Double eagles or double faults. Forget the
fury ball. Get to the leaderboard, kid.
Very good work today, Stephanie.
As a fellow journalist, I understand the need to find a story — or in the absence of a story, create one. But “Rory McIlroy, very good 23-year-old professional golfer, hasn’t played very well for the last month or two” is not worthy of all this apocalyptic doom…
It’s a shame Rory couldn’t make the cut defending a title he dominated so much last year. Such is the case with demanding US Open golf courses you have to play well to make it through.
Can’t wait for the weekend action.
Not sure I agree with Jay about the “apocalyptic doom” of Rory’s missteps over the past two months.
Also as a fellow journalist, I believe that Rory McIlroy may well be the best story in golf aside from Tiger’s maybe, perhaps, possible come back. People like Rory. And people want him to do well and as a result, want to read about him.
The fact that he has struggled of late IS a story and adding in the Caroline Wozniaki as Yoko Ono aspect doesn’t seem, to me at least, to be as such a far-fetched storyline.
The best part about the whole thing is that Rory also seems to be getting the same impression. Saying he sees that he needs to work harder and concentrate more on his game rather than his love life shows me that he gets what is necessary to be successful.
I’m not sure that the US Open will be that kind to Rory for the remainder of his career unless we see a favorable set-up like Congressional, but it would appear as if Rory has made accomplished the hardest step of the Career Grand Slam with the first major victory last year. Masters, British and PGAs seem to be a better fit for McIlroy and I would contest where he has the best chance of winning multiple majors.
i’m going marky mark on rory…he’s the worst person in the history of the world and it’s all his fault.
dude does have a pretty hot G-Friend!!
How ridiculous is that the media and golf fans blame Caroline for his poor results!
Caroline also has been struggling with poor form, and she has had a really poor year, but I never blamed Rory for that!
And at the end of the day they owe us nothing, it’s their lives and their careers, and morevoer their private life is none of our buisneess! So leave them alone people!
I respectfully disagree. Clearly Rory is distracted. Hey, the kid is in love. Nothing wrong with that; however, you can’t play golf at the highest level if you’re not completely focused and without obvious distractions. Just ask a guy named Tiger Woods.
I dont think anyone is blaming Caroline for Rory’s poor play. But rather the time Rory is spent playing with Caroline might be the cause of his poor play. Clearly Rory’s play and practice time is being affected by Woz.
I seen many guys being P-whipped before by a good looking girl, but this is whole different level.
Once again Tiger is shown to be a better man than Rory. Tiger juggled wife, 2 kids and about 15-20 known groupies. Yet Rory can’t handle 1 long legged tennis chick. This girl is Rory’s krytonite.
Martina Hingis/Sergio — Chrissie Everett/Norman???
Moral of the story is say no to Tennis girls and yes to G-strings.
What I can’t understand is why so many people, Ms. Wei included, care what he does with his life. Do you people have something at stake in whether or not he’s the next “Tiger” ? Last time I checked, it was his life, and his choice how he wants to live it. He’s already made more money than I’ll ever see in my life. He’s already enjoyed more success than 99% of the people that play the game professionally. Sure he has the potential to be a great player, but so have a very long list of players before him. Why to you all care whether or not he lives up to his potential? I think that he should care about, but it doesn’t affect me personally one way or the other. So what if he chooses love over professional success? There is more to life than playing golf tournaments, and I think he should do whatever makes him happy, never mind what you critics think.
This!
I agree with this except the 99% – I think the more accurate # is 99.999999%