WGC-Cadillac Championship 2015: McIlroy throws club into lake during day of struggles

A 73 on Thursday and 70 on Friday leaves him eight-shots off leader J B Holmes

Rory McIlroy (Getty images)

The next time you pull a 3-iron out of a lake, check the swoosh, it might be Rory McIlroy’s. The world no.1 launched his club where he had just plonked his ball, into the water at the side of the eighth at the WGC-Cadillac Championship in Miami.

It was the second wet episode of his round after rinsing his tee shot at the third. And this following a birdie-birdie start. Clearly, the sun does not always shine in Florida. A week after missing the cut at the Honda Classic, his maiden PGA Tour event of the year, McIlroy was back in the deep end at Doral.

“I just let frustration get the better of me. It was heat of the moment, and I mean, if it had been any other club I probably wouldn't have. There was a split second like should I or shouldn't I, but I didn't need a 3-iron for the rest of the round so I thought, why not? It felt good at the time,” McIlroy said setting a peel of laughter rolling around the mixed zone.

“Looking back at it, it isn't one of my proudest moments. But, you know, walked away with a bogey and regrouped and did okay from then.” He did, too, firing a second round 70 to close in a tie for 11th on one under par, eight behind the lead held by JB Holmes.

A new stick is on its way from Texas, so nothing is lost. Besides sport loves a comeback, a feature inherent in McIlroy’s game. His popularity as a golfer owes as much to the climb off the canvas as the sustained successes. And here he was trading punches with fate like a good ‘un.

Pundits wondered if McIlroy had problems in the wind. A stiff ocean breeze is a standard accoutrement here. Ever since McIlroy emptied his pram after the buffeting at Royal St George’s in 2011, his appetite for golfing in a gale has been questioned. Look at a map. Drop a pin in Belfast. Note the proximity to the Irish Sea. McIlroy was born to play golf when it blows.

Coach to the stars, Sean Foley, put it best when reflecting on last week’s early bath in the Honda hooley. “The kid had a bad week. That’s all. Look at the run he put together before that, nothing worse than second in seven events. That’s what Rory can do.”

There was no shortage of appreciation when McIlroy strode to the first tee yesterday to begin the rehabilitation. His tee shot at the 577-yard par-5 drew the standard awed response from an audience not used to seeing balls dispatched with such ferocity.

McIlroy pounded his ball 329 yards down the left side of the fairway, 27 yards short of Bubba Watson. No shame attaches to that deficit. There is a degree of precision associated with McIlroy’s ball-striking that Watson would take every day of the week.

The third man in the group, Henrik Stenson, was 12 yards behind McIlroy and like the world no.1 is geared to finding fairways as well as distance. McIlroy hit his second with a rescue club too well, the ball skipping past the flag and through the green. Watson was in the drink with an iron.

The net result was a two-shot swing in favour of McIlroy who walked off with a birdie to Watson’s bogey, leaving them all square at level par on the second tee. Another birdie straight off the bat took McIlroy under par for the first time.

Then came water ride no.1 that cost him a bogey at the third, and a three-putt at four had him back where he started. Hey ho. It was that kind of day, scratching for form here, holing a putt there.

“When you're struggling you need something to just give you a spark. I'm not saying that was it, but it could have been,” McIlroy said, returning briefly to the club-throwing episode, the first of his career and estimated at 60-70 yards. “I played a little better on the back nine, but I’m still just not as comfortable with my game as I'd like.

“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.”