On Thursday at the Truist Championship, Rory McIlroy once again demonstrated that even superstars can have challenging days on the course. What unfolded was almost historic – the Northern Irishman was on the verge of completing an entire round without a single birdie. A rare feat that hardly ever happens even among pros, it provided plenty of talking points.
The Battle Against the Birdie Drought
Imagine this: 17 pars on the scorecard! Rory's driving was, as usual, incredibly strong. The ball mostly landed where it was supposed to. But when it came to putting, the ball simply wouldn't drop. Birdie opportunities on the 12th and 13th? Nowhere to be found. McIlroy himself attributed it to misreading the greens, sometimes too much, sometimes too little.
It just wasn't happening until the very last hole. Then, on the 18th, came the redeeming birdie putt, which secured him a 1-under 70 and allowed him to narrowly avoid that 'birdie-less round'. The relief was palpable, but the real highlight came afterwards.
Fleetwood's Cheeky Remark
Immediately after the putt, his buddy Tommy Fleetwood came up with arguably the funniest remark of the day: "I would have missed that on purpose!" And as if that wasn't enough, he added: "You could have missed that one deliberately!" McIlroy could only recall that he hadn't played a PGA Tour round without a birdie in ages. And his reaction to the tough round? "I wasn't frustrated, I hit good putts. Some days they just don't want to go in." Classic golfer humor, showing that even the best don't take themselves too seriously.
