Many golf shots excel at inducing anxiety: the flop shot from the tight pants, drivers off deckJordan Spieth. . . good. . . (insert photo here). But surely no shot is more nerve-wracking than a chip off the green. Thankfully, we don’t often witness such a mess because (1) the need for such a shot is rare, and (2) the degree of difficulty is so high that no one with a handicap higher than, oh, plus-4 or -5 would or should think of attempting such a risk.
This brings us to Rory McIlroywhich in the opening round of The invitation of Genesis at Riviera on Thursday found himself hampered by the bunker located in the middle of the green on the par-3 6th. Riviera membership is not allowed to hit a wedge on the 6th green during regular club play, but that rule does not apply when the pros come to town.
So McIlroy grabbed a lofted club and sliced the ball off the putting surface with a surgeon’s touch. The ball flew about 30 yards, held the bunker and landed about 20 feet above the hole before rolling gently down a slope to get into the range. “That’s magic right there,” said a voice from the cabin.
it it Was magic, which is not to say that McIlroy pulled the shot out of his hat. He had practiced it. A lot. After the opening five-under 66 that gave him a share of the lead, McIlroy explained that he improves his short game at Bear’s Club in South Florida by chipping away at the greens. “It really helps me check my low point and find the low point,” he said. “If you can get off a really tight lie or a green like that, you can basically get off any lie.”
He added, “The supervisor probably doesn’t like it very much, but it helps.”
Paul Azinger practiced the same way. The same applies to Luke Donaldwhich a few years ago posted a tutorial on Instagram about how chipping a green can help you use the wedge jump effectively. “The body and the club rotate together during the swing,” he wrote among other tips. “Notice how my body is facing my target at the end, even though it’s a short shot and my club is aligned with my spine.”
It sounds complicated, and it is. When Gary Woodland went from one side of Pebble Beach’s 17th green to the other in the clinching moments of the 2019 US Open — and almost missed — Curtis Strange, who was calling the action for NBC, said, “That might have been the best shot of his life.”
McIlroy’s chip shot on 6 wasn’t his only dazzling shot of the day. Thanks to the wet and windy conditions, his full (and still developing) arsenal of shots was on display, namely chipped, low-spinning iron shots and shots that stayed downwind, like the rope he hit on the par-4 18th.
“For some tee shots, I just don’t like to get the ball in the air,” he said. “If I feel like I can keep it low, he keeps it in front of me. … Obviously, the hill (on 18 is) about 20 feet farther than it was a few years ago, so when I hit the ball, I said, ‘Oh, go, go a little.’ It was good, but it’s a nice shot to have in the bag.”
As of this writing, McIlroy was two under through four in his second round and seven under overall, two behind Xander Schaufelle’s lead.
