Rory McIlroy - 5 Time Major Winner and Grandslam legend

Stats say on putting he's 30th of 30 so far this week. There you have a large part of it. His scrambling from around the green and his bunker play are what keeps him afloat at all.

There was 30 in the field. Hoge and Bezuidenhout finished T29.

Class golf from McIlroy today

FFS are we still at this sh1te talk about caddies. No caddy will overrule the player and laying up on par 5s won't win tournaments.

Ultimately, you're bringing bogey into play with the water and it must have been absolutely woeful to go OB right. The reward of birdie or better far outweighs the risk, as there is still a good chance of making par from going in the water. It's a Thursday, no caddy is gonna tell a player of McIlroy's ability, and from the position he's lying, to lay up.

Sorry I think I'll have to disagree on this one - Virtually no pro players will choose to lay up on a par 5 with an iron in their hand… He just hit a terrible shot - missed his target by ~ 30/40 yards, that is hardly the caddies fault, agree with @bustercherry the risk reward on the 18th is a relatively make-able up/down for par if you do go in the water, a high % birdie if you put it on/near the green. The reality is he bogeyed the hole because he hit a (5 I think) iron 30/40 yards off line out of bounds.

Still to be -5 with 2 dropped shots - good shape for the week.

McIroy with 5 iron in his hand and ability he has, should be worst case in the water. It's not like he was on the 72 hole needing par to win the tournament. It's day one and good chance of another birdie, which could be the difference on sunday.

It's unreal the amount of guff people come out with about caddies and their influence. Some of them are just glorified bag carriers with too much to say, Billy Foster is one such example.

Looks like he's left too much to do here - couldn't match some good scores out there today

Brilliant putt..my plans this afternoon are ruined by the golf !!

Class stuff

Would love if McIlroy could take this, it would get some eejits off his back.

That was a poor 3rd chip shot as well. He has a birdie opportunity, but he's 20 foot away at least. Looks like it's going to a 3 way play-off.

Only par for Rory. He made a mess of that hole.