"I made a mess of it"- Rory McIlroy faces big setback with triple bogey at Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship 

Rory McIlroy is currently competing in the 2024 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at the Yas Links Golf Club in Abu Dhabi. McIlroy lost the advantage he had gained with eight birdies as he carded a six on the par three 17th hole.

During the post-round interview, the Northern Irish golfer talked about his setback and said he played nice up until the 17th hole, and even on the 17th hole, he had a decent tee shot into the green side bunker.

"Yeah, I played quite nice up until that point. And even I felt like I had a nice shot into 17, it just nice flight at five iron hit the downslope, you know, trundled into the bunker, and then it wasn't a great leave in the first place, but the club bounced on me," Mcllroy said.

McIlroy said there wasn't much sand where the ball was in the bunker, and that he just made a mess of it from there.

"There wasn't a lot of sand, and, you know, wherever the ball was in the bunker there, and I just sort of made a mess of it from there. But, you know, bounced back well, two good shots into the last, and we had a pretty there. So it's tough to go out tomorrow and try to get off to a fast start and get myself back into it," McIlroy added.

The four-time Major championship winner's tee shot went into the bunker on the 17th hole. His second shot went over the green into the opposite greenside bunker. McIlroy then messed up his third shot as well as he duffed his chip as the ball remained in the rough between the green and bunker.

Eventually it took him six strokes to compete the hole which brought the score down to -9 from -12. Rory McIlroy is currently placed at T14 with a score of -10 and is nine strokes behind the lead going into the weekend.

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When will Rory McIlroy tee off in the third round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship?

Rory McIlroy will tee off at 11 am local time (7 am GMT) in the third round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. He is paired with Richard Mansell and Yannik Paul, who are placed at T17 with a score of -9.

Rory McIlroy will need a strong finish on a moving day to be in contention at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship - Source: Getty

Here are the tee times of all golfers competing in the third round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship (in GMT):

• 03:24 - Grant Forrest, Daniel Brown
• 03:34 - Matteo Manassero, Darius Van Driel
• 03:44 - Shubhankar Sharma, Adrian Meronk, Sam Bairstow
• 03:55 - Justin Rose, Calum Hill, Connor Syme
• 04:06 - Julien Guerrier, Dan Bradbury, Frederic Lacroix
• 04:17 - Sean Crocker, David Ravetto, Aaron Cockerill
• 04:33 - Dylan Frittelli, Thomas Detry, Gavin Green
• 04:44 - Guido Migliozzi, Jorge Campillo, Matthew Baldwin
• 04:55 - Jayden Schaper, Rasmus Højgaard, Joe Dean
• 05:06 - Jeff Winther, Adam Scott, Joaquin Niemann
• 05:17 - Rikuya Hoshino, Casey Jarvis, Antoine Rozner
• 05:28 - Alex Fitzpatrick, Tom McKibbin, David Micheluzzi
• 05:49 - Romain Langasque, Nacho Elvira, Jesper Svensson
• 06:00 - Nicolai Højgaard, Alejandro Del Rey, Brandon Stone
• 06:11 - Matthew Jordan, Joost Luiten, Andy Sullivan
• 06:22 - Min Woo Lee, Marcel Siem, Angel Hidalgo
• 06:33 - Keita Nakajima, Adrian Otaegui, Adrien Saddier
• 06:44 - Shane Lowry, Jordan Smith, Ewen Ferguson
• 07:00 - Yannik Paul, Richard Mansell, Rory McIlroy
• 07:11 - Bernd Wiesberger, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia, Thriston Lawrence
• 07:22 - Robert MacIntyre, Sebastian Söderberg, Francesco Laporta
• 07:33 - Matt Wallace, Tyrrell Hatton, Ugo Coussaud
• 07:44 - Laurie Canter, Thorbjørn Olesen, Tommy Fleetwood
• 07:55 - Niklas Norgaard, Johannes Veerman, Paul Waring