Rory McIlroy insisted that he was comfortable with his new putting grip but the change did little to improve his chances of a third World Golf Championship.
In the final 15 minutes he spent on the Trump National Doral course yesterday the Northern Irishman went from having a 12-yard putt on his penultimate hole to go five under par to signing for a one-under par round of 71. McIlroy took three putts at the par-five 8th for a par, then dumped his tee shot to the short 9th in the water right of the green en route to a double bogey.
McIlroy is tied for 16th, five shots off the lead held by Scott Piercy, of the US, and Marcus Fraser, of Australia. Phil Mickelson, the former Open champion, is alone in third, two shots back, with Danny Willett, the Yorkshireman, best of the 21-strong European contingent in the 66-man field. The recent winner of the Dubai Desert Classic shot 68.
Even though McIlroy hit the ball 33 times on the greens and only twice holed from outside five-feet, he claimed his switch to a left-hand-below-right putting grip felt “pretty comfortable”. But the world No 3 did admit to needing to “hit the ball harder”. More than once he left lengthy putts well short — which is no surprise. Traditionally, those making such a grip change have initially found trouble with pace and distance control.
Of McIlroy’s playing partners, respectively No 1 and No 2 in the world, Jordan Spieth recorded a 69 that he deemed “a bit of a grind”, while Jason Day hit his tee shot on the 16th hole “60 yards left” and shot 72.