RORY McILROY’S hopes of crowning the “best week of my life” with a third Tour Championship win suffered a huge blow as his baby boom fizzled out in Atlanta.
New dad McIlroy wasted a great chance to seize control of the Tour Championship as his main rivals struggled on day two.
And he gave himself a mountain to climb by making an awful mess of the must-birdie 18th.
His decision to hit driver off the tee for the second day running on the closing hole – a downhill par five – raised plenty of eyebrows after his tee shot ran through the fairway in the first round, and almost found the lake guarding the green.
But he ignored that warning and reached for the driver again, with the extra roll on his shot sending it scuttling 370 yards into the deep rough just short of the lake.
McIlroy had a good lie in the first round, and hammered his ball close enough to the green to set up a birdie that completed a superb 64. But this time his luck ran out.
The four time Major champion again went for the green from a bad lie – and watched in horror as his ball travelled ,less than thirty yards before making a huge splash.
TOSSED AWAY GREAT CHANCE
That led to a bogey six and a one over par 71 that dropped him from fourth place into a share of eighth.
At eight under par he is now five shots adrift of Dustin Johnson, one shot worse off than he was at the start of the round.
To make matters worse, McIlroy will know he tossed away a great chance to start snapping at Johnson’s heels, after the world No 1 could only manage a level par 70.
And Jon Rahm, who started the day as joint leader, collapsed to a three over par 73, dropping him into joint fifth.
Several other players took advantage of the mayhem at the top of the leaderboard, led by last year’s PGA Tour rookie of the year Sungjae Im. He shot a 65 to close to within a shot of Johnson.
And Xander Schauffele, runner-up to McIlroy a year ago when the Ulsterman scooped the £12million first prize, matched Im’s 65 to climb to third place, just two off the lead.
At least McIlroy is still in the hunt – although is not even the leading Brit at the halfway stage.
He was also overtaken by England’s Tyrrell Hatton, who is enjoying a dazzling Tour Championship debut.
Hatton shot a superb 66 to move to nine under, four off the lead, and the Arnold Palmer Invitational winner is eyeing another huge win.
McIlroy, who has been on cloud nine this week after wife Erica gave birth to their daughter Poppy on Monday, admitted he had been too greedy with his second shot at the 18th,
He said: “The lie was sort of iffy and in hindsight I maybe took on too much by going for the green. I tried to hit it really hard and just didn’t catch it right.
“But at least I didn’t lose too much ground, which is a bit of a consolation.”
