McIlroy Ready for Cherry

Jon Rizzi

The net on the driving range stands 90 feet tall—30 feet higher than usual—to protect University Boulevard and the homes beyond it.

Most of the pros in Wednesday’s Gardner-Heidrick pro-ams reached the two 500+-yard par 4s with a driver and 8-iron.

On the eve of the BMW Championship, you have to wonder if the combination of equipment technology and mile-high air will make a cupcake out of Cherry Hills Country Club?

Rory McIlroy—who blasted a 436-yard drive at sea level at Royal Aberdeen earlier this year—doesn’t think so. “I think modern technology has taken some of the teeth out of what the course was,” the World No. 1 said during his press conference after Wednesday’s pro-am. “But they can make the course as tough as they want with pin placements and the firmness of the fairways and greens.”

Playing the 92-year-old William Flynn-designed course for the first time, McIlroy said that he noticed his high ball flight translated to an additional 15 percent in distance. He hit his 3-wood 370 yards.

“But,” he added, “this course doesn’t allow you to hit it that far. You really need to place the ball in the fairway. I can see it’s a golf course that’s going to get firmer and trickier as the week goes on.”

Firmer fairways naturally equate to more distance—sometimes too much distance. Players like McIlroy can hit through them, leaving tough approaches from Cherry Hills’ sticky rough.

“And the greens are going to get firm,” he said. “You want to hit your approaches from the short stuff.”

McIlroy said he thinks the course will produce some “63s and 64s, because you can go five or six under on the front nine.”

A player posting that kind of round might find himself finishing double-digits under par—something no player has ever accomplished in a USGA or PGA event held at Cherry Hills.

EYES ON RYDER

Currently second to Deutsche Bank winner Chris Kirk in the FedEx Cup points battle, McIlroy said he was looking forward to competing in Denver and in next week’s Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta. He added that he welcomes the week off before the Ryder Cup competition begins at Gleneagles in Auchterarder, Scotland.

“It’s more difficult to play at home,” he said of the Scottish venue. “It’s a double-edged sword. You want to do so well for the home crowd but we have to manage expectations. Having won the last two, we’re the favorites, but it doesn’t work like that.”

He pointed out that the victorious European team had only won two of the eight sessions in during the last two Cups.

As far as captain Paul McGinley selecting Lee Westwood over Luke Donald with his last captain’s pick, McIlroy believes “It was a flip of the coin…Paul, at the end of the day, went for the experience and probably more of a talisman in the team room.”

RELATED LINKS

The BMW Championship: How to Watch

David Duval on Course Conditions at Cherry Hills Country Club

BMW Championship Preview: Are These Players Wadley Worthy?

Top Holes to Watch at the BMW Championship

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