Rory McIlroy somehow caught him in the chaos of Patrick Reed last week during the Farmers Insurance Open, and it left him with questions even after the tournament.
Reed, of course, got a free fall due to a built-in ball on the 10th hole Saturday in the third round at Torrey Pines. It was a decision that was talked about two days in a row, even though he won Sunday, and it was Reed who dragged McIlroy into it. when he tweeted on Saturday night that McIlroy did exactly the same thing he did on the 18th hole.
After the video appeared Sunday, the two decisions on the relief look pretty similar. McIlroy’s ball threw into the rough – just like Reed’s – but McIlroy, who like Reed never saw the bounce, said it was embedded and took a drop. He was adamant after his round that he should not summon an official of the rule, for it was certainly embedded. And yet the repetition showed that the ball would almost certainly not end up in its own climax (which is certainly possible, though unlikely) not is embedded.
Unless … stepped on it.
“An email was sent to the tour on Monday saying my ball had to be tracked down, but the volunteer did not tell me that on Saturday,” McIlroy said Wednesday during the Phoenix Open. “That’s why I took built-in ball lighting, because it was an embedded ball, but I did not know that there was action at the time. The video came out on Sunday, of course, with my ball bouncing and then going in, and at that point I was like “Well, it must have gone at its own pitch or something,” because the ball was plugged in, of course. “
The tour acquitted both players on Sunday, despite not knowing McIlroy’s ball acted, but McIlroy said he went to bed restless on Sunday night.
‘I went to bed on Sunday night and asked if I did the right thing after watching the video … I at least felt better about my actions because I knew I did the right thing, and that I took relief went for a ball that was embedded or walked on. So it was nice that it came to light, because I interviewed a little bit on Sunday.
“Did I do the right thing? Did I play by the rules? Did I see something that wasn’t there?” “It was a rough Sunday night. I was just starting to doubt myself a little bit, which is not like me. But I was convinced it was an embedded ball,” McIlroy said.
It turns out that it wash an embedded ball, even if the road to get to that point was not what anyone originally thought.