Not since 1962 has the PGA Tour visited the Baltimore area.
This week, the second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs brings the top 70 golfers in the points race to Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland, for the BMW Championship.
Rory McIlroy got his first look the course on Wednesday playing in the pro-am and came away impressed.
“It’s a big ballpark,” he said. “You can certainly let it rip out here, hit a lot of drivers. I think there’s been a lot of rain in the Baltimore area, so it’s pretty soft, so the ball is not really going anywhere when it hits, which is good. It makes the course play nice and long, which I like.
“It’s a good track, good test. I have a few friends that are members here, and they’ve told me all about it and rave about the place. I can see what they’re talking about.”
McIlroy did spend a good chunk of time on the range on Tuesday. He says he was working with some new clubs, in particular a new 3-wood. Seems that his old one got away from him.
“Yeah, so I needed to try to get into a new 3-wood and into a new driver. I threw my 3-wood onto the New Jersey Turnpike off the 9th hole,” he said about his final round Monday at the Northern Trust. “So I was without a 3-wood coming here. The driver I just felt was spinning a little too much last week, so I just needed to get into something that wasn’t spinning as much, and that was really it.
“I feel like I landed on a good driver and got a pretty good 3-wood, too. That was the purpose of yesterday’s range session.”
Hold on, Rory. You said you threw your 3-wood onto the New Jersey Turnpike?
“I might not have reached the road but I threw it into the trees off the ninth tee at Liberty National, so if someone wants to go get a 3-wood, there’s one in there somewhere.”
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After last Sunday got washed out, final-round tee times were pushed back three times, making a long week a bit longer. McIlroy finished tied for 43rd, then made the one-hour plane ride south – just one day off before jumping into this week.
“I think I feel like a lot of guys feel right now, a little jaded, a little tired. End of the season, there’s been a lot of golf. Yeah, so a lot of travel. I’m just sort of getting through it, to be honest,” he said. “I’m going day-by-day and just trying to get through it as best I can and try to make it to next week.”
Still 28th in FedEx Cup points, McIlroy is in good shape to advance to the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta, where only the top 30 will play, but he admits the close to this season has been a grind.
“The game feels pretty good. Energy levels are somewhat sort of trying to dig deep at this point, but yeah, try and keep going and try and put in a good finish this week to make sure I’m in Atlanta next week.”
There is no tournament the week after the Tour Championship. The PGA Tour’s 2021-22 schedule kicks off the week after that with the Fortinet Championship in Napa, California. McIlroy doesn’t intend to play there so he’ll use the two-week window after East Lake to prep for the Ryder Cup. Then he plans to take another break.
“I’m going to take a bit of time off after the Ryder Cup, and that’ll be nice,” he said. “Since we came back after the sort of COVID halt. … I think this is my 33rd event since then. Next week will be 34 and then Ryder Cup 35. So all that in a space of 15 months, it’s a lot of golf. It’s probably too much for me. I’ve played more than I probably should have and feel like it’s just sort of all caught up with me.”
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