Rory McIlroy battled a last-hole “s***show” to keep the prospects of the entire Ryder Cup team making the cut in the BMW PGA Championship alive.
Following an 80-minute due to early morning fog, the second day’s play at Wentworth finished amid farcical scenes which saw four groups waiting on the 18th tee and Thomas Bjorn exchanging words with a drunk spectator up ahead on the closing hole.
With the 18th green predominantly illuminated by the light from a giant scoreboard, Mcllroy two-putted from 45 feet for birdie to finish on the projected cut mark of one under par.
The four-time major will have to wait until the second round is completed on Saturday morning to learn his fate, while playing partner Ludvig Aberg continued his brilliant form by sharing the lead with fellow Swede Sebastian Soderberg on 10 under.
Asked to describe the late-night drama, McIlroy said: “It was a s***show.
“The fog obviously delayed things but I’ve never remembered having that many players on 17 and 18. It’s not as if they teed us off in tighter slots or anything.
“It’s hard for me trying to play the last well and make the cut, it’s a bit of a mad dash and a scramble to get finished. I don’t know what you could do about that apart from less players in the field.”
Soderberg had earlier made an eagle on the 18th to complete a superb 64 and set the clubhouse target which was matched by Aberg, who birdied the 16th, 17th and 18th in his 66.
The Swedish pair enjoyed a one-shot lead over Adrian Meronk, Tommy Fleetwood, Thomas Detry and Masahiro Kawamura, with Tyrrell Hatton on seven under and Jon Rahm and Matt Fitzpatrick another stroke back.
Meronk said last week he was “shocked, sad and angry” not to receive a pick from Europe captain Luke Donald, especially after winning his third DP World Tour title in the space of 10 months in May’s Italian Open at the Ryder Cup venue on the outskirts of Rome.
“I have accepted it,” the 30-year-old Pole said at Wentworth.
“The first couple of days after were tough, but I have moved on and am focused on my game. I want to finish the season strongly and that is my only goal now.
“I know it’s easy to say, but it’s like having a bad round and letting it go. This one was a little bit tougher to accept because it wasn’t based on me and someone else made that decision.
“I definitely think it is wrong. I feel I’ve deserved it. I feel I’ve shown in the last two years that I’ve played really good on the DP World Tour. If you look at the results and the numbers, I thought it was enough, but there’s nothing I can do now.
“But I have been pretty good at accepting things in my career. I’m trying to turn all that disappointment and anger into motivation, especially this week.”
Meronk, who received shouts of encouragement in Polish as he completed his round, believes the captain having six wild cards is too many and that one should be held back until after the end of the DP World Tour’s flagship event.
“I’d say that four would probably be reasonable and I think leaving one or two picks for these big tournaments would be a good idea,” he added.
“This time the team has been picked basically after a four-week break and then playing two small events. I think one spot should be reserved after this week at least.”
Rahm looked in danger of missing the halfway cut when he thinned his second shot on the first into the face of a fairway bunker and ran up a double bogey, before also dropping a shot on the third.
However, the Masters champion responded with an eagle on the fourth, chipped in to save par on the sixth and covered his last 10 holes in six under par.
“None of those swings felt bad, it was just an unfortunate thing to happen on the first but you have put it on the fairway around here,” said Rahm, who carded a closing 62 here last year to finish runner-up for the second time in two starts.
Ryder Cup: Luke Donald calls on Europe’s players to write their own history
Europe captain Luke Donald urged his “fearless” players to write their own Ryder Cup history after showing faith in two of his rookies for the opening session in Rome.
While the pairings of Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton and Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood came as no surprise, Donald also handed Ludvig Aberg and Sepp Straka an early taste of the action at Marco Simone.
The fiery pairing of Rahm and Hatton will face world number one Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns in the first foursomes match, with Aberg and Viktor Hovland up against Max Homa and Open champion Brian Harman.
Straka and Shane Lowry were paired in match three versus Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa, with McIlroy and Fleetwood up against arguably the United States’ strongest pair in Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay.
Donald would not take the bait when asked if the 12 players were his gladiators, but said: “I would say they’re very fearless.
“They’re extremely good golfers. The atmosphere in the team room is fantastic. Everyone is in good spirits.
“It’s been an amazing journey. Couldn’t be more excited and happy for these 12 guys to go out and enjoy this week because I remember I had so many fond memories playing and being a vice-captain.
“As a captain it’s a little bit more of a stressful job, but I’m excited. I’m excited for the guys just to take this all in, enjoy it, and try and write their own history this week.”
United States captain Zach Johnson sprang a surprise by leaving the successful pair of Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas on the sidelines, with two of this year’s major winners – Brooks Koepka and Wyndham Clark – also sitting out.
“The eight guys I have down on paper are the ones that we feel best put us in the position to get off to a great start obviously.
“I have the utmost confidence in these eight and the utmost confidence in Jordan and Justin. I know we’re talking about a great tandem, but it’s a situation where it’s not about their form. They’re playing great. It’s really just a matter of trying to dissect all five sessions.”
Foursomes match times (all times BST, Europe names first)
0635: Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton v Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns
0650: Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg v Max Homa and Brian Harman
0705: Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka v Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa
0720: Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood v Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay
What is the format?
Four foursomes matches and four fourball matches are contested on each of the first two days, with 12 singles matches taking place on Sunday.
With 28 points available, 14 and a half are required to secure outright victory but, as the holders, the United States would retain the trophy if it ended in a 14-14 tie.
Weather forecast
High pressure remains in control of the weather throughout the three days of competition, with lots of sunshine, warm temperatures and fairly light winds. No rain is expected.
Team Europe split on ‘revenge’ mission but united in quest for Ryder Cup glory
English duo Tyrrell Hatton and Matt Fitzpatrick have spoken of revenge – compatriot Tommy Fleetwood preferred the word “motivated” and Rory McIlroy went with “determined” – but Europe’s team are united in their quest to regain the Ryder Cup.
The record 19-9 defeat at Whistling Straits was a humbling experience as they lost their grip on the trophy and that quartet are among seven of the current team who experienced it.
They all have their own way of describing what is driving them this week at Marco Simone in Rome but it all points in the same direction.
“Ultimately deep down you want to get some revenge. We have a fantastic team and we will be trying our best to make that happen,” Hatton told rydercup.com.
“You don’t want to be trying too hard, so you give it 100 per cent but being aware of not trying to force the issue and be natural.
“I’m not one to usually fist pump after putts unless they have true meaning but the Ryder Cup is different so on the positive side you will see more (from me) for sure.”
Fitzpatrick may be a major champion, having won last year’s US Open, but in terms of the Ryder Cup he has yet to land a punch having lost all five matches he has played in over two editions.
And while he is keen to get off the mark he is aware the bigger picture is far more important.
“Whistling Straits was disappointing… I think it is some motivation,” he said.
“Realistically if we just won by a point I don’t think it matters; as long as we win I don’t think we are bothered but we all want to win it back regardless of what happened last time.
“I couldn’t care less what happens as long as we win, I don’t care,” adding as a joke: “As the old saying goes, ‘if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying’. Don’t use that.”
Fitzpatrick’s faith in his team-mates has also grown.
“I’ll be honest, if you look at the way the team compared to the US team nine months ago you’d think, ‘OK, there’s a bit of a gap here’ but I feel the closer we have got to this week the more it has looked in our favour.
“Looking at some of the numbers presented, it’s a lot closer than everyone thought it would be so that’s a great sign for us.”
World number two Rory McIlroy felt the defeat in Wisconsin more than most after his only point in for matches came in the Sunday singles over Xander Schauffele, which prompted a tearful television interview afterwards.
“I don’t mind being vulnerable, it’s a very natural human thing to do and I’d say Whistling Straits was probably one of the most vulnerable times of my career,” said McIlroy, who professed his love for his team-mates in an emotional outpouring on the 16th green.
“I wasn’t playing my best golf. It was a tough week for all of us and makes us more determined to put it right this time.
“There are moments of chaos and there’s a really fine balance between thriving in the chaos and getting swept up with that emotion but also being able to bring yourself back to centre and get yourself back to doing what you need to do.”
Fleetwood spoke of standing in silence on the 18th green watching the Americans celebrate as “a very motivating feeling we knew we didn’t want to happen again”.
And world number four Viktor Hovland feels they have a point to prove after that thrashing.
“I think we all have a bit of a chip on our shoulder, we want to show what we can do,” he said.
“I am sure the Americans think they can show up here and do the same thing again but we’re going to do everything we can to stop that.
“I hope we all play our asses off and show them what Team Europe is made of. I just want this week to be a huge statement.”
Viktor Hovland aces par-four fifth as Europe’s players prepare for the Ryder Cup
Norway’s Viktor Hovland warmed up for Friday’s start of the Ryder Cup by holing his tee shot at the par-four fifth hole at Marco Simone in Rome.
Unfortunately for the world number four it was only a practice round and it was his second attempt at going for the green on the 300-plus yard hole which is guarded by water.
The 24-year-old had fanned his first attempt pin-high into the right rough and reloaded with his three-wood and landed the ball on the green.
He turned away to walk back to his bag only to see the ball roll into the hole followed by loud cheers, him tossing his club away, playing partner Matt Fitzpatrick jumping on his back and fellow team-mate Tyrrell Hatton struggling to contain his laughter.
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