McIlroy goes out on a limb with shot

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/08/2012 (5097 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — For a few moments, Rory McIlroy’s hopes of a big day at the PGA Championship were up a tree.

McIlroy’s tee shot on the par-4 third hole Saturday became lodged in a thick tree branch not far from the green, but after a brief and fruitless search for the ball, he was told by someone from a TV crew that it was actually sitting just above him. Instead of having to tee off again because of a lost ball, McIlroy took a drop and a one-stroke penalty — and got up and down for par.

He ended up with five birdies in nine holes, taking a share of the lead before the third round was halted because of rain — but it was that bizarre par that had everyone at Kiawah Island talking.

“I think that’s the first time a ball has ever got stuck up a tree on me,” McIlroy said. “Hopefully, it doesn’t happen again.”

Not since Sergio Garcia went toe-to-toe with an oak at Medinah in 1999 has a tree become this big a part of PGA Championship proceedings. After two straight birdies to start the round, McIlroy was poised to make an early run when he came to No. 3, which had been shortened 74 yards Saturday to an enticing 317.

McIlroy’s drive didn’t reach the green, however. Instead, it was somehow caught in what looked like a rotted out section of a branch, on a tree in the middle of the fairway that guards the front of the green.

“I knew the line of the ball was right on the tree,” McIlroy said. “So, you know, I was just like, ‘Well, if it hit the tree, I’m sure it’s just somewhere around here in these long grass things or in the wood chip or whatever.”‘

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McIlroy looked around near the base of the tree and found nothing. If the ball was lost, he would be penalized a stroke — and have to return to the tee box to hit again. But the ball wasn’t lost. In fact, it was clearly visible on the television broadcast, nestled in the tree, about seven feet off the ground.

“We’d been looking for it for maybe about three minutes, and then one of the guys that was working for the TV came over and said, ‘You know, it’s actually stuck in the tree,”‘ McIlroy said.

It’s not unusual for players to be penalized because of violations caught by television viewers — but in this case, the live broadcast worked to McIlroy’s advantage.

“I’m like, ‘How can it be stuck in this thing?”‘ McIlroy said. “But it had wedged itself in between the tree bark and the actual tree.”

— The Associated Press