Rory McIlroy finished three-over for the third round of the US Open at Brookline. It left him one-under for the tournament, three shots behind leader Will Zaltoris.
Saturday's round could have been much worse for McIlroy considering some of the positions he found himself in on the course. His tee-shot on the 13th went far left and into the trees. Incredibly - with a little guidance from his caddie Harry Diamond - McIlroy managed to make par.
Standing among the trees, McIlroy had been considering a much more ambitious shot. However, Diamond convinced him to pitch out into the fairway.
"That was all Harry," said McIlroy.
"I was ready to hit a 4-iron and try to play it off my front foot and hit it up over those trees. He said to me, look, you could pull it off, but you could also make a 7 or an 8 doing it. He goes, why don't you play it out here, and we can try to get it up-and-down. That was huge.
"That's the benefit of having a good caddie and someone that's strong and. He said to me, look, just go here. Don't even think about it. For once I listened, and it paid off, and I was able to make a good par."
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On the No Laying Up podcast, ESPN writer Kevin Van Valkenburg gave an account of the exchange between McIlroy and Diamond.
"On 13, he yanked it really far left with an iron," said Van Valkenburg.
"We couldn't even believe it was Rory's ball. We were sure it had come from another hole.
"We were standing there, way left in the trees. Rory is three feet from us, and is talking through all his options with Harry. There were all these drunken idiot fans, 'You're going to do it bro!'
"There's a tiny window, maybe 70 feet in the air. Rory is wanting to hit a five wood. He's taking out a five wood, and going through the motions. Harry is doing that thing Bonesy used to do, [shaking his head]. He finally convinced him to chip it out sideways, and get up and down from there.
"Rory says fine, and slumps his shoulders. He pitches out sideways, and then hits an unbelievable approach to a ridiculous pin that was on a little shelf. He makes a 10-footer for par, [does a] full on fist pump. He goes to the next tee, and annihilates his drive.
"Harry was jogging a little bit behind, right next to me, and I was like, 'Wow. Good thing you talked him out of that one'. He was, 'He would have hit a five wood through that spot, fuck me!'"
Rory McIlroy just made history as the first golfer to ever hit the same merch tent from two different holes in the same round pic.twitter.com/qlYjNOK3xN
— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) June 18, 2022
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