Rory McIlroy suffered a brutal double bogey on the 18th hole at the HSBC Championship in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
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Rory McIlroy's bid for an 18th DP World Tour victory came to an abrupt halt on Saturday as a late mistake derailed his tournament for the second day in a row.
McIlroy spent much of Round 3 of the HSBC Championship in Abu Dhabi, playing in the bottom six group and charging up the leaderboard. McIlroy had six birdies after bogeying the par-4 fourth hole at Yas Links. He played the next 14 holes and finished at 5 under for the day on the par-5 18th hole, for an overall score of 15 under.
But then: disaster. McIlroy's tee shot found water on the left side of the fairway. After the fall, his third shot left him 219 yards from the hole. His next shot hit the bunker in front of the green. McIlroy hit his fifth shot from 10 feet but missed the bogey putt for a deflating double.
That leaves McIlroy in a tie for 13th at 13 under, five shots behind Briton Paul Waring's lead at 18 under.
To add insult to injury, this was the second time in as many rounds that McIlroy had to pay the price for a bad hole late in the match.
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McIlroy cruised to 7 under through 16 holes in Friday's second round before making triple bogey on the 211-yard par-3 17th. There wasn't even a penalty on that hole. Instead, McIlroy switched from greenside bunker to greenside bunker on his first two shots, still short of the green on his third shot, and then failed to hit it up or down. McIlroy bounced back with a birdie on No. 18 on Friday, but unfortunately that wasn't to be the case in the third round.
“It’s not ideal to shoot two-plus shots on the last two holes two days in a row,” McIlroy said after Saturday’s round. “Obviously I lost a few shots there myself.
“The leader didn't get away, which was good, and I attacked a little bit,” he continued. “There was only one mistake, which was teeing off on the 18th hole into the wind.”
Despite the setback, McIlroy remains hopeful that Sunday's charge can still get the job done.
“With the actions of the leaders, I can still feel like I have half a chance in tomorrow's game,” he said.
Low scores can definitely be found on Yas Links. Championship leader Waring shot an 11-under 61 on Friday, and Tommy Fleetwood and Thomas Detry both shot 62 this week.
You can watch the final round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on Golf Channel starting at 1:30 a.m. ET on Sunday.
