Rory McIlory was once again in the Top 10 of a PGA Tour event this week at the Travelers Championship with an impressive 18-under score after 72 holes.
Normally, a performance like that would be more than enough to win a tournament, but he finished tied for seventh and five shots behind 23-under winner Keegan Bradley. He set the tournament record by one shot.
TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn. got a shot at McIlroy after he said the course basically hasn’t adapted to the stick-and-ball technology that has evolved for the pros.
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Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland waves on the 4th green during the final round of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands on June 25, 2023 in Cromwell, Connecticut. (Patricio Smith/Getty Images)
«I don’t particularly like it when a tournament is like this,» McIlroy explained via the new york post office. «Unfortunately, technology has passed this course, right? It’s kind of made it stale, especially with how smooth it’s been with a bit of rain we had.»
Tournament officials were asked about the conditions at TPC River Highlands this week due to the pros scoring well throughout the course. With many rounds in the low 60s, officials said a cold spring, which rarely occurs in the area, did not allow the grounds to firm up.
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Add in the rain that McIlroy mentioned, and the course becomes even softer, allowing for more aggressive play. When it comes to these PGA Tour pros, they salivate in conditions like these because they know they can play on the pins and fairways without the usual risk on other courses.
Take Los Angeles Country Club, for example, at the US Open last week or Oak Hill Country Club for the PGA Championship. Justin Thomas and Max Homa were knocked out after two rounds at the Open and the likes of Jon Rahm and Tony Finau barely survived in Oak Hill.
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland waits on the 4th green during the final round of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands on June 25, 2023 in Cromwell, Connecticut. (Patricio Smith/Getty Images)
Not every course is going to have treacherous roughs and tricky greens like those two. However, McIlroy, who has played pretty much everywhere on the Tour, made a comment that shows he thinks it needs to be tougher.
However, he was unable to score as high as he wanted. However, he had a good run going into his final round on Sunday, when he birdied five of the first eight holes he played. But he couldn’t keep up that momentum throughout the round.
It was a great payday either way.
«I knew I was never going to win with the way Keegan was playing, but I felt like he probably needed a couple more birdies to finish in the top 5,» McIlroy said.
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland plays his shot from the first tee during the final round of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands on June 25, 2023 in Cromwell, Connecticut. (Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
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The Rocket Mortgage Classic is next on the PGA Tour record at Detroit Golf Club, which has a slope rating of 134, which measures the difficulty of the course. An average score is 113.