Golf

Rory McIlroy keeps FedEx Cup dream alive despite mixed bag in Denver

Four-putts on successive days on the 12th hole put paid to a challenge in Colorado

Rory McIlroy waves to the gallery on the eighth hole during the final round of the BMW Championship at the Cherry Hills Country Club in Denver, Colorado. Photograph: Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Rory McIlroy waves to the gallery on the eighth hole during the final round of the BMW Championship at the Cherry Hills Country Club in Denver, Colorado. Photograph: Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Mon Sept 08 2014 - 08:54

Rory McIlroy blew his chances of lifting the BMW Championship with four-putts on successive days in the third and final rounds on the 12th hole at Cherry Hills in Denver, but the world number one moved on to this week’s Tour Championship – the concluding tournament in the US Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs – with the opportunity to win the $10 million jackpot.

The 25-year-old Ulsterman finished with a 66 for eight-under-par total of 272 which gave him a top-10 finish and, more importantly, kept alive his FedEx Cup dream.

But it was the 12th hole – a rather innocuous Par 3 of 204 yards – that proved to be McIlroy’s downfall over the weekend, as he four-putted for a triple-bogey six in Saturday’s third round and, then, unbelievably, four-putted again in yesterday’s final round for a double-bogey after initially having an 18-footer for birdie.

McIlroy heads to the final event of the FedEx Cup with his destiny in his own hands, knowing that a tournament win in the Tour Championship on the famed East Lake would also guarantee that jackpot payday. Any player in the top-five in the standings going into the Tour Championship – limited to 30 players – who wins the tournament season finale is also assured of topping the FedEx Cup standings.

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As far as the tournament in Denver was concerned, McIlroy’s problems with his putter on the 12th green on Saturday effectively ended any aspirations to add the BMW to his recent cache of British Open, US PGA and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational titles. McIlroy four-putted for a triple bogey on the 12th resulted in a third round 72.

Of his travails on the 12th green on Saturday, McIlroy observed: “The 12th hole just really derailed me . . . so, obviously, to go from being right there in the tournament, dropping three shots in one hole wasn’t what I wanted.” Amazingly, the world number one again four-putted the same hole in the final round.“I am glad I won’t see that 12th green for a while,” he said. “In a 3-man field, I still think it is possible.”

With the incentive of keeping himself inside the top-five on the FedEx Cup standings, McIlroy made a move on the front nine of his final round to move up the leaderboard. He had back-to-back birdies on the fourth and fifth, where he sank a 25-footer.

And then he made an eagle two on the Par 4 seventh hole, where his tee shot landed in rough some 52 yards from the flag. McIlroy took out his lob wedge, played a bump and run and watched as the ball ran into the hole for the eagle which moved him into tied-fifth place. McIlroy turned in 30 strokes.

Unfortunately for McIlroy, the horror show of the 12th hole of Saturday was revisited in the final round as he again four-putted – this time for a double bogey, having had an 18-footer for birdie. His response was typically strong, coming back to grab birdies on the 16th and 17th to at least bring some late momentum with him to Atlanta.

Graeme McDowell, though, failed in his bid to make it into the 30-man field for the Tour Championship. The Ulsterman needed a top-five finish in order to make it through to the final event of the PGA Tour season but closed with a 67 for tied-36th.