Jun 23, 2022; Cromwell, Connecticut, USA; Rory McIlroy plays a shot from a fairway bunker on the third hole during the first round of the Travelers Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
GolfBy Michael Dixon on

For most of his round at the Travelers Championship on Friday, Rory McIlroy was on cruise control. He birdied the par-three 11th hole to move to 13-under for the tournament, alone atop the leaderboard. Then came the 12th hole.

McIlroy hit a fairway wood off of the tee on the par four. And while that’s usually done to ensure accuracy, his tee shot went out of play. Things didn’t get any better for him from there. By the time McIlroy finished the 12th hole, he had taken a quadruple bogey.

So, what went wrong? Given his budding rivalry with Greg Norman and LIV Golf, we did get one conspiracy theory.

https://twitter.com/GurungSure/status/1540430576162848771

For the most part, though, when regular weekend hackers saw what happened, McIlroy was something he rarely is to them on the golf course — identifiable. Many watching at home felt good that, for one hole, at least, they could see themselves in McIlroy.

Indeed, while you may see a lot of snowmen on scorecards at your local courses, they aren’t common on the tour. Hackers will occasionally do something great like make a birdie or even hit a hole-in-one. But regular golfers don’t feel a kinship with the pros during the rare moments when they play as well, if not better, than them. No, the real feeling of kinship comes when the pros play as bad, if not worse, than the regular golfers.

That said, even after his quadruple bogey, McIlroy was not only still in contention for the tournament but under par in Friday’s round. So, the kinship only goes so far.

[PGA Tour]

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