Rory McIlroy lamented a cold putter when it mattered most despite carding a third round 68 at the PGA Championship at Valhalla.
McIlroy got off to a slow start with an opening bogey but roared to within three shots of the lead with four birdies in a row from the seventh but as has been the trend over the last few years, when he was on the charge the putter went stone cold as the leaders got within sight.
A slow back nine saw him miss great birdie chances on 11, 12 and 13 to reach at least eleven-under, and these missed putts were compounded with bogeys on 14 and 16 and despite holing for birdie on 18, at eight-under he is seven behind Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa who also endured their share of woes on the greens.
“Yeah, really got it going around the turn there to get to 4-under, and then I kept hitting good shots and had good looks at 11, 12 and 13, 15. Then I made two bogeys with a missed putt on 14, a three-putt. Yeah, there was a six-hole stretch there, seven-hole stretch where just sort of the putter cooled on me. Depending on what happens tomorrow, that’s sort of the — if I look back on the tournament, I may rue that six-hole stretch where I wasn’t able to hole any putts.”
McIlroy won the Wells Fargo Championship after winning the Zurich Classic alongside Shane Lowry and his teammate showed what could be done with a record equalling major low round of 62 to get to within two of the lead.
McIlroy will need that and perhaps a prayer if he is to end a near ten year wait for a fifth major at the site of his fourth.
“I have to go out there and try to shoot a low one. I putted really well on Thursday, and then just the last couple days it’s sort of deserted me. Yeah, I need the putter to sort of heat up again, and with everything else it’s doing, there’s certainly another low one in me.”
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