I am not an active golfer... ok.. I'm horrible at golf.. but surprisingly, it's grown on me.. I love spending the morning relaxing and whacking cringe-inducing hooks into the woods. It's also nice to watch professionals play major tournaments on tv. However, it seems, the sport is suffering some strange setbacks this week.
It's been a bad day for golf favorite, Rory McIlroy. I bet his hoping there is still a chance he can wake up from this nightmarish morning. Going into the British Open which is kicking off as I write, the 30-year old native Northern Irishmen has been favored to win.
This year sees the 148th Open Championship return to Royal Portrush, in Northern Ireland. This is the first time since 1951 that the major tournament has been played here. McIlroy has a lot riding on this cup. Growing up in nearby Holywood, he set the course record of 61 when he was only 16.
Strutting up to the first Tee in periwinkle blue, Rory was greeted with a 'rousing standing ovation' before quieting the crowd and setting his sites on the 421-yard starting hole.
Things went quickly downhill, literally, as the young golfer shanked his first shot out of bounds and was forced to take a second tee shot. According to the Daily Mirror, McIlroy's opening drive hit a woman and cracked the screen of the mobile phone in her pocket. src
His second tee shot didn't fare much better, landing in bounds, but off the fairway in deep rough.. from there his fourth shot swung low and stayed left, veering into even thicker rough. In fact, he was forced to call the lie unplayable and take another penalty stroke and a drop.
[not where you want to be, man..} src
He recovered with a nice 6th shot pitch up onto the green, but had to settle with a two putt as his first attempt veered off the right of the hole. All in all, Rory finished up the first hole with a quadruple bogey. This is the first time he has started off +4, and only his second quadruple bogey in his tournament history.
McIlroy, who's betting odd for winning was 8-to-1 going into the tournament, saw those odds plummet to 33-to-1 on betting sites as he round the second tee. At the time of writing, Rory is passing the clubhouse after the front 9, still four strokes above par..
I guess it's not a good time to tell him.. No major winner in the last 20 years started a tournament with worse than a double-bogey...
