Rory McIlroy made an ace at Travelers. Here’s why he threw the ball away

It’s onerous to imagine it’s solely been 4 days since the finish of the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club, and but right here we’re, throughout the nation in Cromwell, Conn., protecting tempo with the PGA Tour schedule’s regular drumbeat at the Travelers Championship.

After a slim defeat in pursuit of his fifth main championship in LA, Rory McIlroy was amongst the dozens of gamers who confirmed up at TPC River Highlands straight from the Open. No relaxation for the weary on Tour — and there’s nonetheless another main to organize for. The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool is barely 4 weeks away.

Still, you need to surprise what sort of fatigue gamers like McIlroy are feeling after an extended, grueling week in California. His first-round of two-under 68 has him T46 — about the high third of the discipline. But he’s a whopping eight photographs behind chief Denny McCarthy.

But regardless of McIlroy’s up-and-down day (5 birdies, 5 bogeys), he did handle to notch an accomplishment that he’s by no means accomplished earlier than: his first ace on the PGA Tour.

“As hole in ones go, I’ve had them in the past where it has been like an okay shot and you get a little lucky. That was the best shot of the day that I hit,” McIlroy stated after his spherical. “Obviously a bonus for it to go in the hole, but it was really cool. I played pretty averagely up until that point. Felt like that hole in one got me going a little bit. Birdied the next couple holes after that and sort of got me into the tournament a bit.”

The eighth gap at TPC River Highlands is a 214-yard par 3. McIlroy hit a towering 5-iron, which landed on the inexperienced and rolled immediately into the gap.

While McIlroy acknowledged the ace bought him going a bit, he is aware of the bogeys must be minimized if he’s going to have an opportunity to contend at a course which usually options ultra-low scoring.

“I don’t even know if I made five bogeys during the whole U.S. Open last week,” McIlroy stated. “I just need to — I think I did, but I just need to tidy that up. Making five birdies and an eagle out there would be good enough to be in the Top 5. I just need to cut out the mistakes.”

A number of extra photographs like that 5-iron will just do effective. And as for the hole-in-one ball?

“Threw it away,” McIlroy stated.

Wait, what?

“I’m not sentimental. I don’t care. I’d rather have trophies than golf balls.”

McIlroy’s pursuit of this explicit trophy will proceed early Friday morning, the place he’ll tee it up at 7:35 a.m. ET alongside Tom Kim and Viktor Hovland in Round 2.

Golf.com Editor

As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of feminine varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everybody on the masthead. She can out-hustle them in the workplace, too, the place she’s primarily liable for producing each print and on-line options, and overseeing main particular tasks, similar to GOLF’s inaugural Style Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview collection, “A Round With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in each in the journal and in video type on GOLF.com.