Pro golf heaved a sigh of relief Thursday when Rory McIlroy, the personable leader of the game's youth movement, was able to complete Round One of the PGA Championship after hurting his right wrist on the third hole. Too bad such a boneheaded decision put his round in jeopardy in the first place.
Radio commentator Jay Townsend's recent criticism of course management by McIlroy and his caddie J.P. Fitzgerald rang true again. With his ball resting against a tree root in the left rough at No. 3, McIlroy opted not to make a gentle pitch back onto the fairway for his second shot and instead took a mighty rip at the ball. The result was predictable; Rory wrecked his wrist.
McIlroy is only 22. He would benefit greatly from an assertive caddie, which Fitzgerald isn't. As Peter Kostis said during the telecast, "If I were J.P. Fitzgerald, I would have given him wedge and walked away."
It's one thing to take that kind of risk if it's the final round and you're in the hunt. But it's a stupid decision at the third hole of a 72-hole championship. (Hey, Stevie Williams never would have let Adam Scott attempt that shot – just ask him.)
Yet the day's outcome underscores McIlroy's immense talent – and defies logic. McIlroy was able to limit the damage to bogey at the third, and get round the final 15 holes at the Atlanta Athletic Club – without his 7-iron, by the way, which bent at the hosel when he hit the tree root – in one under par. His opening 70 trails leader Steve Stricker by seven shots. Tiger Woods famously won the 2008 U.S. Open on one leg, and now we'll be watching to see if the Anti-Tiger can win a major with one arm.
Equally impressive was the coverage on TNT. Analysts Gary McCord, David Feherty, Ian Baker-Finch and Kostis weren't shy about questioning McIlroy's decision, and the camera work during Rory's consultation with physical therapist Jeff Hendra was absolutely brilliant. The talking heads also did a nice job explaining that players are entitled to a 15-minute injury break, and can receive treatment between shots without incurring a rules violation (as long as play isn't delayed).
If you had the volume up high enough, you would have heard Hendra quip, "Smile, we're on TV," which drew a laugh from an obviously distressed McIlroy. After Hendra manipulated McIlroy's wrist and forearm for a few minutes, he told him, "The good news is, you're not gonna hurt it by playing."
That was all McIlroy needed to hear. Continuing to ice his wrist between shots, and dropping his club at the completion of some shots, he made birdies at Nos. 5 and 6, then hit 8-iron 185 yards to four feet at the par-3 seventh (although he missed the birdie attempt). After McIlroy made bogey at the 8th, TV viewers got a lesson in how to tape an ailing wrist for support.
McIlroy's resilience surely silenced his doubters, but he displayed less bravado (and more brains) at the 12th. He yanked his tee shot left, and the ball ended up in a small depression amid the trees, leaving a tough shot to advance under any circumstances, let alone with a sore wrist. The injury no doubt forced his hand, and McIlroy wisely punched out. The strategy was rewarded when Rory hit his third shot to 10 feet and made birdie.
He also birded the 16th, his second shot from 174 yards ending up three feet from the hole. After a bogey-par finish, McIlroy shook hands left-handed with Darren Clarke, Charl Schwartzel and their caddies. Then it was off to a hospital for an MRI.
Leave it to Feherty to poke fun at his announcing colleagues – and himself – for imploring McIlroy to call it quits after playing No. 3. "I'll tell you what," Feherty said, "we the wise ones can pontificate all we want, but there's only one guy who knows, and it's that young man right there."
The episode made for great TV, but it was an injury McIlroy could have done without. He and his caddie share the blame. A young, fearless McIlroy can be forgiven. The timid Fitzgerald should have known better.
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