THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Rory McIlroy has never been the kind of player to hide his emotions while on the golf course and during the first round of the Zozo Championship those emotions boiled over.
On the final hole Thursday, McIlroy’s approach shot sailed wildly to the right. It was one too many shots to the right and McIlroy calmly snapped the wedged in half.
“I missed so many shots to the right, if that wedge shot on 18 had missed 20 yards left, I still would have had that club in my bag, I wouldn't have snapped it,” he said with a laugh. “It was just one shot too many to the right. Even if that thing had missed 6 feet to the right, that club was probably getting broken.”
McIlroy ended his eventful opening round with a double-bogey 6 at the 18th hole, but he was much more consistent on Day 2 at Sherwood Country Club. He birdied the 18th hole and added seven more birdies for a second-round 67. It was six strokes better than his first round but still not where he wants to be.
“There's a lot of good and there's a lot of bad,” he said. “I'm happy with the good, I'm happy with the fact that I'm making birdies and I'm converting the chances I'm giving myself, but it's just when I get it out of position, I'm not playing smart. I'm maybe just taking too much on at times and then compounding errors.”