The large number of fans streaming into Delhi Golf Club on a sweaty Saturday afternoon lined both sides of the narrow first fairway well before Rory McIlroy teed off in the 1:40 pm slot. Scottie Scheffler is world No. 1, but the Northern Irishman is the leading light as a true globe-trotter, spreading golf’s popularity and acting as the game’s world spokesman.
There is also the small matter of six Majors and a grand slam accomplished after an 11-year wait. The American has four, none this year, when McIlroy defended his Masters title.
But there is something very human about the 37-year-old world No. 2, the biggest draw at this week’s $4 million DP World India Championship. Sometimes McIlroy can appear a tad lonely on a course, even lost. Maybe it’s just the lingering Tiger Woods effect, all imperious and with a halo.
Fans, young and old, DGC regulars and new faces, seemed to know how special it was to see McIlroy, only the sixth male player to claim the career slam, playing before them.
McIlroy had completed his unfinished second round in the morning to be 6-under par for the tournament. One question was on everyone’s mind: would he lead a charge in the third round? It didn’t turn out that way as he ended two-over after 15 holes when play was suspended due to fading light; the first day’s rain delay had thrown the schedule into disarray.
His third-round card had four bogeys and a double. One of the game’s longest hitters perhaps wasn’t enjoying the narrow fairways and thick rough where the driver must stay in the bag. Perhaps such a course had come too late in the season for the man chasing a record-equalling eighth Road to Dubai Rankings title.
The fans cheered as McIlroy obliged with a birdie first up. They often started to move away before Niklas Norgaard and Jordan Gumberg, doing much better, putted. They have to be asked to stay put. But their eyes were only on the man with a kind of rolling walk and a head bob. After every miss—twice the ball lipped out—the anguish showed in his face.
At the second, McIlroy hit his second shot and the discerning fans yelled, “Carry, carry.” And they cheered as the ball just cleared the greenside bunker and landed on the green. Two fluffed shots result in bogeys on the 3rd and 4th holes. The fans weren’t discouraged. There is the inevitable Tiger reference as McIlroy plays a safer shot at the fourth. A three-foot putt lipped out and “oohs” rang out for the bogey.
The mood of the fans lifted at the sixth tee. Brazil football great Ronaldo, an invitee of a tournament sponsor, joined the group. Two security officials were with the group until then. Two more, both in suits despite the high humidity, flanked the famous Brazilian No. 9. who was happy to oblige the really young selfie seekers.
The crowd by now had divided loyalties, calling out for Ronaldo and Rory in turns. There was a hush after the tee shot at the sixth. To McIlroy’s dismay the chip off the greenside rough rolled just a foot, and the next chip rolled away. Double bogey.
McIlroy, a touch forlorn, studied the greenside leaderboard as he walked up to the green on the par-3 seventh. Spain’s Eugenio Chacarra was holding firm at the top. A long putt left and form iffy? No issue, a brilliant birdie got the crowd roaring and his super fan Ronaldo tapped an imaginary ball into goal.
At the ninth, bogey again after finding the rough. Ronaldo seemed to have fulfilled his sponsor’s obligations for the day. He vanished into the club house. McIlroy skirts the fifth green, casting a long look at Chacarra, the R2DR leader in live rankings, waiting to putt.
At the 10th, a six-footer lipped out for bogey. It surely wasn’t McIlroy’s day, as three pars followed. The grimaces and his look into the distance, all suggested that his body and mind were feeling the strain of playing the 28th hole of the day.
An unusually long wait followed at the par-5 14th as the group ahead was on the green. McIlroy stamped his foot in frustration. A course employee informed him, “They won’t finish the round, only 20 minutes are left.”
The McIlroy second shot landed on the greenside bunker. Shot gone awry? Not from the man who does magic with the wedge in hand. He sent the ball in an arc over the green. One bounce and drop. An eagle.
The fans roared, their patience rewarded in fading light. McIlroy’s grinned, finally.
