Video: Rory McIlroy's Club Taken by Fan in Tee Box at 2021 Scottish Open
Jul 9, 2021
NORTH BERWICK, SCOTLAND - JULY 09: Rory McIlroy is pictured during day two of the abrdn Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club on July 09, 2021, in North Berwick, Scotland. (Photo by Ross Parker/SNS Group via Getty Images)
A fan pulled off a high-risk heist of a
club from Rory McIlroy's bag at the 2021 Scottish Open and managed to
take a few practice swings Friday before being escorted away by security.
The unbelievable moment on the 10th tee at the
Renaissance Club in Scotland was caught on video as the unidentified
man first grabs a head cover and then returns to the bag for a club
as McIlroy, caddie Harry Diamond and playing partner Jon Rahm look
on confused:
A European Tour spokesperson told ESPN
the "matter is now in the hands of Police Scotland."
McIlroy and Co. were just getting ready
to start their round at No. 10 when the incident occurred.
The four-time major champion said after
the round he was "surprised" by the incident but credited
security, saying the situation was "handled efficiently," per
Martin Dempster of The Scotsman.
"When someone told him that he
couldn't do that, he replied by saying 'why not?'" an eyewitness
told Dempster. "At that point, the security people assigned to
following the group moved in and took him away."
Rahm added the entire ordeal ended up
being "quite funny."
"Security was good, but these things
can happen," Rahm told reporters. "He had good timing. He walked
in very confidently. We were all thinking, 'Maybe he is supposed to
be here.' We didn't know. Rory and I both thought it was a prank or
someone who was supposed to be there."
McIlroy completed his second round
without further issue, shooting an even-par 71 to remain at one under
overall, which leaves the Northern Irishman one shot below the projected cut line with Round 2 play ongoing in North Berwick.
Rahm is the tournament leader at 11
under.
US Open Golf Purse 2021: Prize Money Payout for Top Players on Final Leaderboard
Jun 21, 2021
Jon Rahm, of Spain, holds the champions trophy after the final round of the U.S. Open Golf Championship, Sunday, June 20, 2021, at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Jon Rahm won the U.S. Open on Sunday, shooting a final round 67 to finish six under for the tournament.
"I'm the first Spaniard to ever win the U.S. Open," an emotional Rahm said after his victory. "This was definitely for Seve [Ballesteros]. I know he tried a lot, and usually we think a lot about him with the Masters, but he wanted to win this one most of all."
That earned Rahm his first major title and quite a payday in the process. The payouts for the top 10 were as follows (h/t Spotrac):
1. Rahm: $2,250,000
2. Oosthuizen: $1,350,000
3. Harris English: $861,457
T4. Guido Migliozzi: $517,000
T4. Brooks Koepka: $517,000
T4. Collin Morikawa: $517,000
T7. Branden Grace: $318,000
T7. Daniel Berger: $318,000
T7: Paul Casey: $318,000
T7: Xander Schauffele: $318,000
T7: Scottie Scheffler: $318,000
T7: Rory McIlroy: $318,000
And then there was Bryson DeChambeau, who went from being in the running for the title to tied for 26th after an abysmal 77 in his final round, costing himself some serious scratch:
If Bryson DeChambeau had played the final eight holes in even par, he might have been looking at solo 2nd — which pays $1.35 million.
He played them in 8 over, costing himself as much as $1,258,625.
Bryson DeChambeau: “Unfortunately, just had bad break after bad break happen. It is what it is. It’s golf, it’s life... I just didn’t have full confidence in my swing and I got some unlucky lies down the stretch.”
But the story was Rahm, who earlier in the month lost what would have likely been a serious payout due to the PGA's COVID-19 protocols:
On June 5, Jon Rahm is forced to withdraw from The Memorial with a six stroke lead heading into the final round due to Covid tracing. Loses out on winner’s prize $1.674 million.
Sixteen days later, Rahm is going to win the U.S Open and $2.25 million.
Maybe you think one thing has nothing to do with the other, but I really admired how Rahm handled the COVID stuff at Memorial. As an army of Armchair Epidemiologists were raging, he said the Tour handled it the right way, he advocated for science, he moved on & won a US Open. 👏🏻
— Kevin Van Valkenburg (@KVanValkenburg) June 21, 2021
Rory McIlroy on Rahm's Covid WD at Memorial, and now this:
Rahm closed like a boss, with birdies on Nos. 17-18. And then he took the time to celebrate with his three-month-old son, Kepa, as he awaited Oosthuizen to finish his round.
“Little man, you have no idea what this means right now,” he said to his son after his victory, per the Associated Press (h/t Yahoo Sports). “You will soon enough.”
Russell Henley, Mackenzie Hughes and Louis Oosthuizen go into the final round of the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines Golf Club tied for the lead...
Rory McIlroy Supports Banning Green-Reading Books: 'It's Made Everyone Lazier'
Jun 16, 2021
LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 16: Rory McIlroy speaks with SiriusXM at The U.S. Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course on June 16, 2021 in La Jolla, California. (Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
Rory McIlroy would like to see the PGA Tour do away with green-reading books.
Talking to reporters Wednesday ahead of the 2021 U.S. Open, McIlroy explained that he thinks the books have "made everyone lazier."
"People don't put in the time to prepare the way they used to, and that's why you see so many more players at Augusta, for example, take their time around the greens, hit so many more putts. It's because they have to. It's because there is no greens book at Augusta," he added.
Per Luke Kerr-Dineen of Golf.com, green-reading books feature detailed breakdowns of every green and denote "the direction and degree of the slope from anywhere on the putting surface."
McIlroy might get his wish very soon.
Eamon Lynch of Golfweek noted the PGA Tour will likely ban the books before the start of the 2021-22 season after the player advisory council voted to outlaw them at a meeting earlier this month.
The Masters is the only tournament on the PGA Tour schedule that doesn't permit use of a green-reading book.
In the meantime, McIlroy will look to conquer the south course at Torrey Pines starting Thursday while searching for his first win in a major since 2014.
The top three golfers on the 2021 PGA Championship leaderboard have major titles on their resumes. Phil Mickelson, Louis Oosthuizen and Brooks Koepka will be hard to crack, which ...
Major tournaments typically do not have a leaderboard chock full of notable names at the end of 72 holes, which is why the 2020 PGA Championship was so special...
Five first-time men's golf major winners have been crowned in the last three years. At the 2020 PGA Championship, Collin Morikawa emerged out of a large group of contenders in the final round to win his first major title...
Rory McIlroy smiles after his putt on the third hole during the fourth round of the Wells Fargo Championship golf tournament at Quail Hollow on Sunday, May 9, 2021, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)
An emotional Rory McIlroy said Sunday that his win at the 2021 Wells Fargo Championship set the stage for him to head into the PGA Championship with high spirits.
"It's certainly great timing,'' he told reporters. "This is obviously a huge confidence boost going in there knowing that my game is closer than it has been. I'll be able to poke holes in everything that I did today, it's certainly far from perfect, but this one is validation that I'm on the right track.''
McIlroy shot three under in his final round on Sunday to complete the tournament at 10 under, good to best Viktor Hovland and Keith Mitchell and earn his first PGA Tour win since 2019.
The drought-ending victory was a special one for Rory McIlroy, since it came in the same tournament that he earned his first PGA Tour win at back in 2010. Overall, it was his 19th career victory and third at the Wells Fargo.
This is the first time he has won a tournament three times.
He took to Twitter to express his excitement and attachment to the course as well as thank fans for sticking with him through his winless stretch.
McIlroy hadn't won since the 2019 WGC-HSBC Champions in China. Though he enjoyed success surrounding that win, coming away with top five finishes in seven straight tournaments, he struggled when golf returned amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He had just three top-10 finishes in the rest of the season.
This year's campaign looked to bring more of the same to the Irish star after he followed up a third-place finish in Abu Dhabi by missing the cut at the Players Championship and the Masters.
While McIlroy has history at Quail Hollow, he also has a connection to the PGA Championship. It was there in 2012 that he posted an eight-stroke victory for his second major title.
Wells Fargo Championship 2021: Rory McIlroy Earns 1st PGA Tour Win Since 2019
May 9, 2021
Rory McIlroy tees off on the seventh hole during the fourth round of the Wells Fargo Championship golf tournament at Quail Hollow on Sunday, May 9, 2021, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)
Rory McIlroy held off Abraham Ancer to win the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sunday.
McIlroy went three under in the final round to finish at 10 under for the tournament, one shot better than Ancer. Viktor Hovland and Keith Mitchell tied for third at eight under.
This is his first victory on the PGA Tour since the WGC-HSBC Champions in November 2019.
The 32-year-old narrowly avoided a meltdown after badly hooking his tee shot on the par-four No. 18. He missed the creek, but the rough surrounding the water was so thick that it made an approach all but impossible.
Mitchell entered Sunday with a two-stroke lead on McIlroy and Gary Woodland at nine under. He was unable to make any progress, though, with a pair of bogeys on the front nine canceling out his birdie on No. 1. That opened the door for McIlroy to stake his claim for first place.
McIlroy put together a bogey-free round before his hiccup on No. 18, a refreshing change from how the past few seasons have unfolded. Per PGATour.com, his 70.13 scoring average in the fourth round was 81st on the tour in 2020, and he was on an even worse pace (71.00, 138th) to begin the current campaign.
When McIlroy did find himself in trouble, he expertly danced out of danger.
His tee shot on No. 3 sailed to the left and into the rough. He dropped his approach to within seven feet of the cup and sunk his birdie putt.
An impressive par save came on No. 11. McIlroy sliced his tee shot badly into the trees lining the fairway. Hitting out of the pine straw, he got back onto the fairway just short of the green.
Ancer surged on his back nine, birdieing No. 11 and gaining three strokes between No. 15 and 17. A par on No. 18 brought the run to an end, and having teed off nearly an hour before McIlroy, he had to watch from the clubhouse and hope the four-time major champion slipped up.
Mitchell provided McIlroy with a helping hand when he bogeyed No. 17 to fall to eight under. His playing partner ultimately needed a healthy buffer on the last hole.
With the Wells Fargo Championship concluded, the PGA Tour heads to TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas, for the AT&T Byron Nelson. Sung Kang, who missed the cut this weekend, remains the event's defending champion after the 2020 edition was scrapped because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Byron Nelson will serve as the final tuneup prior to the PGA Championship.
Dustin Johnson (+1000) heads into the second major championship as the betting favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook. Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas trail closely behind at +1200. After Sunday, McIlroy will likely see his odds (+1400) improve a bit.
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