MCILROY UPBEAT DESPITE COLD PUTTER AT RIVIERA
Rory McIlroy finished runner-up Jacob Bridgeman at The Genesis Invitational at The Riviera Country Club, Los Angeles, California. (Photo: Getty)
Rory McIlroy was left to rue a cold putter at Riviera where the Northern Ireland star finished joint runner-up to Jacob Bridgeman at the Tiger Woods hosted Genesis Invitational.
The frustration with the blade was clearly evident as one makeable putt after another slid by the hole at the renowned Riviera Country Club. It meant McIlroy struggle to keep the pressure on Bridgeman in the manner he wished despite reducing the six-shot overnight deficit to just one at the end of the day.
Bridgeman came away with a bruised but ultimately hard fought one stroke win after his final round 72 was enough to win by one on 18 under. McIlroy closed with a 67 to tie second alongside Kurt Kitayama, who fired a sensational final round 64. Australian Adam Scott went one better with his 63 to race into fourth on 16 under.
Bridgeman admitted to nerves coming down the stretch but for likes of McIlroy the line came too soon and Bridgeman did enough to keep his nose in front. The irony for McIlroy was 30-footer he drained in the final green, but it was too late by then.
“I'll rue basically all 18 holes yesterday and then the front nine today, like 27 holes where I failed to capitalise on the chances I gave myself,” said McIlroy.
Opportunities missed began at the first where he missed an 11-foot eagle putt, a 10-foot birdie effort on the fourth, a five-footer for par on six, an eight-foot birdie putt on eight and the six-foot birdie effort at nine.
Despite the frustrations, the world number two’s fortunes began to turn with birdies at 11 and 12, the latter came from holing out from the bunker. Further birdies came at 17 and 18 too.
“Once I started to trust my reads a bit on the back nine and I went more with my first instinct, I putted a little bit better,” added McIlroy. “I was reading too much into them, and then I'd see like Jacob's putt from the other side do something, I was like, oh, that looked like it went more left than he thought it would, so I'm sort of factoring that in. I was almost just, yeah, giving them too much thought and not going with my first instinct and that sort of cost me.”
“If you look at how I played last week (tied 14th at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am), the birdies that I made, yeah, OK, I made a few big numbers, but I was able to cut those big numbers out this week,” McIlroy said. “I think I only had three bogeys for the week. I feel like my game's in really good shape. I'm looking forward to getting on some Bermuda greens over the next couple weeks.”
Shane Lowry finished tied 24th on seven-under with rounds of 73, 68, 69, 67.