Rory McIlroy surprises caddie at Bay Hill with otherworldly (!) drive
Rory McIlroy became the first player since 2003 to drive the 10th green at Bay Hill during the third round of the PGA Tour's Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Death, taxes, and Rory McIlroy going full send with his driver during a PGA Tour event.
This was quite something and not seen in 21 years at Bay Hill.
To catch you up, McIlroy was playing the third round of the 'signature' Arnold Palmer Invitational after battling to make the cut.
When he arrived at the par-4 10th hole, he was 1-over par for the championship and miles behind the leaders.
He needed to get going, so what better way than to take an aggressive line with his TaylorMade Qi10.
The graphic below illustrates just how cool this drive was.
Take a look here:
Related:
- Rory McIlroy to PGA Tour officials: "F--- it, do what you wanna do!"
- Rory McIlroy watches on as Justin Thomas takes shots at LIV Golf pro
And also take a look at the drive below:
This was the first time a player had driven the green on the 10th hole since the ShotLink era began in 2003.
The hole measures at 401 yards. That was quite a decent hit, then!
From there, McIlroy two-putted for an easy birdie before putting more circles on his scorecard on 12 and 13 to move back into the red.
Perhaps this week will represent another case of too little, too late for McIlroy, but this is almost certainly a highlight.
"Probably won't be too popular for saying this"
After the second round of the API, McIlroy turned heads with his assertion the PGA Tour should be more 'cut-throat'.
He was asked whether having a cut in the signature events are necessary and he said he was 'indifferent' on the topic.
McIlroy said: "I think, when all these signature events were thought of, we were thinking no cut, but if it's important enough, or if it's that important to Tiger and Jack and if Arnold were alive, if it was important enough for him, then it's their tournament, at the end of the day, and they can do whatever they want.
"I could have went either way, but if it's important enough to those guys, then we'll have a cut."
He added: "I'm all for making it more cut-throat, more competitive.
"[I] probably won't be very popular for saying this, but I'm all for less players and less Tour cards, and the best of the best."
Rory McIlroy WITB 2024
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (9 degrees; Fujikura Black 6 X)
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees; Fujikura Ventus Black 8 X)
5-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (18 degrees; Fujikura Ventus Black 9 X)
Irons: TaylorMade P760 (4), TaylorMade Rors Proto (5-9; Project X 7.0)
Wedges: TaylorMade MG4 (46-09SB, 50-09SB, 54-11SB, 60-08LB; Project X 6.5)
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X; SuperStroke Zenergy Pistol Tour
Ball: TaylorMade TP5x (#22)
Read next:
Ben joined GolfMagic as Content Executive in September 2021 just before the Ryder Cup and has contributed significantly to the growth of the site. Ben now assumes our Content Manager role, specialising in PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf content.
![Nelly Korda / SI Swimsuit [Instagram]](https://cdn.golfmagic.com/styles/img_400/s3/2024-11/nel3.jpg?itok=DSlZc2v3)
