NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) — Rory McIlroy's frustrating final round at the PGA Championship on Sunday boiled over with an angry exchange with a fan after a “U-S-A!” shout from the gallery at Aronimink Golf Club.
An errant shot out of heavy rough at the scoreable 16th hole derailed McIlroy's come-from-behind bid, and he appeared to respond to the shout by using an expletive while telling the fan to "shut up."
The exchange summarized the two-time Masters
champion's confounding final round. He was not alone, as Jon Rahm, Cam Smith and Xander Schauffele had their chances and failed to catch Aaron Rai.
McIlroy said earlier in the week that the outlandish and abusive fan behavior he endures — like at the Ryder Cup last year — is usually limited to one week every four years, when the matches are contested in the U.S.
Sunday's interaction, far less severe than what he heard at Bethpage in New York, seemingly just came at a bad time.
McIlroy was three strokes behind Rai on the par-5 16th hole when his second shot out of rough from 37 yard was short and bounded into a bunker. The two-time Masters champion spun, glared at the spectator, grumbled under his breath and seemed to point out the person to security.
McIlroy started the final round three strokes behind the leaders and struggled to make up ground while others were finding the Donald Ross layout scoreable. He managed just one birdie on the front nine, and after a bogey 5 at the drivable par-4 13th, managed one more birdie coming in, settling for a 69 to tie for seventh at 4 under.
McIlroy didn't comment on the fan interaction, but admitted he left some strokes on the course.
“I think not birdieing the two par-5s and making the bogey at the drivable par-4 13th,” he said. “To me, I felt like I played the golf I needed to play the rest of the way. If I birdied the two par 5s and turned that 5 into a 3 on 13, the day looks very different.”
Rahm, who started two strokes back, took the steam out of his three birdies on the front nine with two bogeys for a 1-under 34 at the turn. Still in contention on the back, the Spaniard reeled off six pars before making a birdie at the 16, getting to 6 under, but by that point Rai was three strokes ahead.
“Just wish I’d have done better with the speed of the greens,” said Rahm, who needed 33 putts in the final round. “Just couldn’t seem to get it to the hole, and that’s the reason why I didn’t hole any more putts.”
The captain of LIV Golf's Legion XIII team found the good in his four rounds after barely making the cut at the Masters and finishing 38th.
“As far as I’m concerned, to be in the mix again and hit it as good as I did and perform as well as I did this weekend, it’s been a great week,” he said. “Four rounds and a par, even par, can’t really ask too much more of myself. Just maybe obviously hole in a few more putts, which is not an easy task over here on these greens.”
Smith, who reached the weekend after missing the cut in six straight majors, bolted to 5 under with birdies at Nos. 2, 4, and 9. But his round flattened out with seven straight pars on the back before dropping another stroke at the 17th.
The LIV player had weekend rounds of 68. Smith found early success when he moved to LIV with a victory in 2022 and two wins in 2023. He's winless since.
“It feels great to play nice,” Smith said. "You don’t work hard to play crap, and it’s frustrating, and the last couple of years have been frustrating. I feel like I’ve been putting in the work and not really getting anything out of it.
“Out there today, under the pressure I felt like I was able to trust it already. So lots of positive signs.”
Schauffele failed to gain on the leaders with pars on the first eight holes before a birdie at the ninth. Trouble struck with bogeys at Nos. 11 and 13th, and two late birdies were not enough for the 2024 PGA and British Open winner.
“You really had to kind of hang tough all day and really capitalize on some small spots,” he said. “For me to bogey a drivable hole there that got away from me, I was trying to be aggressive. I figured I needed to make birdie and tried to be aggressive and ended up making bogey. That’s just what this course can do to you.”
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