“I dug myself a hole”: Rory McIlroy rues big mistake in Abu Dhabi

Rory McIlroy is heading into the final round of the 2024 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship tied for 13th place with four other players. A grave error on the last hole of the third round prevented the Irishman from ending the day inside the top three.

Following a two-under par front nine at Yas Links, the PGA Tour star kept the momentum going and made three more birdies on the back nine. However, the par five 18th hole saw McIlroy's tee shot find the water hazard on the left of the hole. This error threw him off his game and he carded a double bogey 7 for the hole to total three-under par for the day.

During the post round press conference on November 9, a reported asked him if he felt like screaming after the fiasco on the last hole. McIlroy replied (via ASAP Sports):

"A little bit, yeah... Just one mistake, that drive on 18, and with it playing so much into the wind. With the third shot, the lay-up was very difficult to try to take on the water. I had to lay up down the right and I still had 222 yards for my fourth. Yeah untimely mistake just like yesterday on 17 and dug myself a little bit of a hole to get out of, but depending on what the leaders do, I can still go into tomorrow feeling like I have half a chance."

During the second round, McIlroy ended the front nine with an incredible bogey-free four-under par 32. Keeping the pace, he went on to birdie the 10th, 11th, and 13th holes. However, his hopes of having a bogey-free round went out the window after the par three 17th hole.

On the 211-yard long hole, his tee shot found the greenside bunker on the right side of the green. Faced with 15 yards to the pin, he flew the green and landed in the left greenside bunker. McIlroy then got the ball out of the bunker but missed the green and was left with an eight yard chip from the rough. He ended up carding a triple bogey 6 on the hole and followed it up with a birdie on the last hole to end the day with a five-under par 67 score.

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Rory McIlroy 2024 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship Stats

Here's a look into Rory McIlroy's performance over the last three days at the Yas Links course for the 2024 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship:

Score

• Round 1 - 67
• Round 2 - 67
• Round 3 - 69

Driving Accuracy

• Round 1 - 78.6 percent
• Round 2 - 64.3 percent
• Round 3 - 57.1 percent

Average Driving Distance

• Round 1 - 345.5 yards
• Round 2 - 344 yards
• Round 3 - 336 yards

Greens in Regulation

• Round 1 - 77.8 percent
• Round 2 - 83.3 percent
• Round 3 - 77.8 percent

Total Putts

• Round 1 - 29 putts
• Round 2 - 26 putts
• Round 3 - 32 putts

Putts per Green in Regulation Hit

• Round 1 - 1.7 putts
• Round 2 - 1.5 putts
• Round 3 - 1.9 putts

Scrambling

• Round 1 - 75 percent
• Round 2 - 66.7 percent
• Round 3 - 50 percent