Rory McIlroy, John Wood said, got lucky. While his tee shot on the 11th hole at Royal Portrush sailed right and toward trouble, it settled on what appeared to be a safe piece of Northern Ireland turf.
“In between some gorse on his right and some heavy, heavy rough that would have been unplayable right on his left,” Wood said on NBC. “But as it’s sitting, ball’s above his feet, but there’s really nothing there to deal with.”
Brad Faxon agreed.
“Massive break,” he said.
Then McIlroy hit during the Open Championship’s third round, and everyone turned stupefied. He’d struck his ball — and one ball buried underneath it.
Said announcer Terry Gannon: “There’s a ball there. Oh my gosh. Have you ever?”
Said announcer Dan Hicks: “Look at that thing. Springs out of the earth.”
Said Faxon: “Unbelieveable.”
Then there was McIlroy’s reaction.
“Oh my god.”
Indeed. Ahead of the strike, he’d placed an iron behind his ball, then a second, after switching clubs. The play was to hit the 151-yard shot about 145 yards and to the left of the flag.
But it went just 38 yards and into the fairway. And the second ball ended up by his feet, after it had popped up about 3 feet. McIlroy picked up the mystery ball, looked at it confusingly and chucked into the bushes to his left.
Said Hicks: “It was like a trick shot.”
Said analyst Paul McGinley: “I thought it was his own ball at one stage.”
Said analyst Kevin Kisner: “And then the sheer panic of, did I hit the right ball?”
From there, McIlroy pitched onto the green, two-putted and finished with a bogey. As he walked up to his third shot, though, he asked Wood a question.
“He looked at me with a wide eye going, ‘Have you ever seen anything like that?” Wood said.
“I said, uh, no.”
