How Rory McIlroy used the Rules of Golf to avoid disaster Friday morning

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Bookmark this play if Rory McIlroy is in the mix this weekend for the claret jug.

McIlroy overcame a shaky driver to turn in a one-under 70 Thursday at Royal Portrush and opened his second round with a birdie. However, McIlroy’s driver woes re-emerged on the par-5 second, as the career Grand Slam winner blocked his tee ball to the right. Though his shot stopped short of the out-of-bounds stakes by a step, the ball buried in deep fescue.

Now, McIlroy’s strength has never been in doubt, and he’s one of the better scramblers from trouble in the game. Still, the lie was so nasty that McIlroy doubted his ability to dislodge it from his place, potentially bringing a bigger number in play. If there has been a throughline through McIlroy’s major missteps of the past, it’s failing to keep the big number at bay.

So credit to McIlroy for taking his medicine—and realizing how the Rules of Golf could benefit him—by taking an unplayable lie and re-dropping into the fescue, McIlroy put his third safely back into play, and from 50 yards out put his fourth to seven feet. The Ulsterman cleaned up what remained, saving his par. A 5 on the card will lose shots to the field, as the second is one of the easiest holes at Royal Portrush … yet he also avoided disaster. After all, it’s only Friday, and while a championship can’t be won this early, it can certainly be lost—as McIlroy’s last Portrush foray in 2019 can attest.

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Is it the British Open or the Open Championship? The name of the final men’s major of the golf season is a subject of continued discussion. The event’s official name, as explained in this op-ed by former R&A chairman Ian Pattinson, is the Open Championship. But since many United States golf fans continue to refer to it as the British Open, and search news around the event accordingly, Golf Digest continues to utilize both names in its coverage.

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