Rory McIlroy’s faint hopes of successfully defending his Amgen Irish Open title ended early in round three but he will be rooting for his close friend Shane Lowry who holds a four shot lead heading into Sunday in Doonbeg.
McIlroy fell back to a share of 50th on two-over after a 74 following two double bogeys in his first six holes but he hopes to warm up the crowd tomorrow morning ahead of Lowry’s bid to win his second Irish Open and first since 2009.
“Yeah, absolutely, I think there’s a great buzz around the tournament because Shane’s up there and leading. So, yeah, hopefully he keeps it going, that would be great for obviously Irish golf,” said McIlroy.
McIlroy lamented a cold putter on Friday as he faded from contention and it was more of the same for the Holywood man who mixed three birdies with three further bogeys on a frustrating day.
“Yeah, two doubles in the first six holes wasn’t the way I wanted to start it, obviously. Yeah, a couple of wayward drives. I took a chance on 3 trying to hit driver there and get it close to the green and hit it out of bounds or lost ball, either/or. Then same thing on 6. Tried to get it up close to the green, had to take an unplayable and made another one there. So no momentum early. And then it was a tough enough day. Obviously, the wind was up and stuff. Yeah, just couldn’t quite get it back after that.
“More of the same. I didn’t give myself as many chances as I did yesterday but the chances that I did give myself, same thing. Feel like I’m hitting good putts, they’re just either misreads or just burning the edges.”
Donald Trump’s Air Force One took an unscheduled detour via his Doonbeg links en route to landing at Shannon Airport. The big bird flew overhead as McIlroy searched for a lost ball on the third. The pair will discuss the events of the day over dinner tonight.
“I guess not the experience we’re used to in a way. I think it’s Air Force One’s maiden voyage, I think. So that was pretty cool. Cool to sort of see all that going on. I was trying to avoid making doubles at that point so I was trying to concentrate on my own stuff as well.”
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