Saturday 12 August 2017 03:32, UK
Rory McIlroy played one of the most creative shots of his career to help save a remarkable par at his opening hole on day two of the PGA Championship.
McIlroy blocked his second to the par-five 10th and was surprised to see where his ball ended up, not realising it had rolled back down a cart path to leave him a near-impossible task to get his third shot to the green.
The 28-year-old weighed up his options after taking a free drop, and he decided to attempt an inventive bump and run with a six-iron that followed the route of the path, feeling that finding the front bunker would have been a fair result.
But his ball took a couple of firm hops off the path and had enough pace to roll through the bunker, over the lip and onto the green, finally settling in the fringe from where he got up and down to salvage an unlikely five.
"I didn't expect it to be there. I knew it was a little right with the second shot but a little bit unlucky to get it going down the cart path," said McIlroy after signing for a 72 which left him 10 shots behind early clubhouse leader Kevin Kisner.
"That shot was really the only option I had. I dropped it in a pretty bad lie, so I couldn't carry it over the cart path. So I hit a six-iron and just tried to bounce it up the cart path and see where it goes.
"Luckily it got out of the bunker and onto the other side. That could have been a six or a seven quite easily, so to actually get away with a five, I felt pretty good about myself going to the next tee."
