You don’t have to spend long on the Australian sandbar to learn about the variety of exotic objects that could lead to your eventual demise.
At a local golf course, Kingswood Peninsulaemployees delight in horrifying foreign visitors with a reminder: Three of the world’s deadliest snakes live in the Melbourne region, and all three have been spotted on the golf course. Players are encouraged to get into rough play by slamming their 9-iron into the green, alerting any potential attackers to their location. The bottom line at Kingswood Peninsula and the rest of the spectacular golf elsewhere in Oz is clear: Expect the unexpected.
That was a lesson Rory McIlroy learned the hard way Saturday morning at the Australian Open. McIlroy, you may have heard, is making his grand debut on the Sandbelt at Royal Melbourne, the host venue for this week’s event (and GOLF Course no. 7 ranked in the world).
He has been the reigning champion of the Masters amazed by the golf culture in Ozfrom the spine-tingling creativity required by golf to the jagged edges of the sand belt and the unique variety of golf shots. He’s also, apparently, fascinated by the strange brew of unusual items that can ruin a round of golf on the sandbar. Like, for example, a banana peel.
On the second hole Saturday morning at Royal Melbourne, McIlroy lost his drive right on the fairway. So far rightin fact, that his ball crashed into a large clump of tall grass. And resting in the tall grass next to his golf ball? Well, the kind of adversary that can only arrive in Oz: A banana peel.
After a long conversation with his staff, Harry Diamond, and a brief deliberation about the merits of a drop, McIlroy elected to go out. But when he swung at this ball he only managed a half-bound. He punched again on his third shot and needed three more shots to putt the ball in the hole. He left second with a 6, his worst hole of the week.
“I know, it was a double whammy,” McIlroy said later. “It was in that little tuft of long grass and then the banana skin on it, but I shouldn’t have been there in the first place, it was a terrible hit.
Thankfully, the bad vibes didn’t last much longer for McIlroy. He made just one bogey the rest of the way Saturday — a four on the par-3 7th — for six birdies. He enters Sunday’s final round (which, due to the time change, will be broadcast in the United States on Saturday night) at 5 under for the tournament, good for a tie for 24th.
And, perhaps, with a new appreciation for the unexpected. Which, it turns out, is everywhere down there.
