{"id":432941,"date":"2026-02-18T21:19:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T21:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/432941\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T21:19:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T21:19:21","slug":"rory-mcilroy-heads-for-riviera-with-the-goal-of-keeping-big-numbers-off-the-card-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/432941\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy heads for Riviera with the goal of keeping big numbers off the card \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The game plan for Rory McIlroy<\/a> headed into this week\u2019s Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles is simple, to get rid of what he called the \u201cbig numbers\u201d \u2013 three doubles and a triple bogey \u2013 that marred his scorecards in Pebble Beach, where he finished tied-14th on his first outing of the season on the PGA Tour<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Northern Irishman put those big numbers down to \u201crust\u201d but left Pebble Beach confident that he had managed to \u201cget the sloppy stuff out of the way, which I feel like I did\u201d.<\/p>\n

McIlroy and Shane Lowry<\/a>, who finished tied-eighth, also in his first outing of the year on the PGA Tour, are in the Genesis, which is another of the PGA Tour\u2019s $20 million purse signature events which returns to Riviera following last year\u2019s move to Torrey Pines due to the wildfires which affected LA.<\/p>\n

\u201cI missed [playing Riviera] last year. I think we\u2019re all looking forward to getting back there. It\u2019s one of the best tracks we play all year,\u201d said McIlroy, adding: \u201cThe weather looks pretty nasty the next couple of days so I don\u2019t know how much preparation we\u2019re going to get in. I would say keep doing the same things. I\u2019m in a pretty good groove with my swing so keep trying to keep on top of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CollinCollin Morikawa of the United States walks on the fourth green at Pebble Beach. Photograph: Orlando Ramirez\/Getty Donegal guru helping out Morikawa on the greens<\/p>\n

Collin Morikawa \u2013 who has been working with putting coach Stephen Sweeney, the Florida-based Donegal guru of the greens, since late-2022 \u2013 used what he jokingly described as a \u201cstolen putter\u201d to seal his win in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.<\/p>\n

The two-time Major champion ended a more than two-year winless drought with an impressive victory at Pebble Beach, using a putter he borrowed from fellow tour player Kurt Kitayama.<\/p>\n

\"\"Did Ireland restore confidence ahead of Twickenham showdown?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s mine now,\u201d quipped Morikawa after rediscovering his magic touch on the greens with the acquired TaylorMade Spider Tour X. It had been made for Kitayama but was actually being used by his brother Daniel when Morikawa started using it in a practice round ahead of the Phoenix Open earlier this month.<\/p>\n

The move from the blade putter to the mallet clearly worked, Morikawa revealing that after getting the club he used an unorthodox method to get acquainted with it. \u201cI actually didn\u2019t touch a club other than my putter, or his putter. That\u2019s all I was doing in the hotel room. Like I didn\u2019t hit balls, I didn\u2019t do anything, just putting in the hotel room, putting, putting, putting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Word of Mouth<\/p>\n

\u201cI have just taken a video of the trophy and given it to the carpenter and said can we make sure this trophy fits because it\u2019s quite heavy.\u201d \u2013 Charley Hull of sending over a quick video of the trophy after winning the Saudi International on the Ladies European Tour. Hull is having her house renovated and wanted to make sure her latest piece of silverware would have a suitable home.<\/p>\n

By the Numbers: 1<\/p>\n

Leona Maguire is the lone Irish player in the field at this week\u2019s Honda Thailand Classic, which kick-starts the Asian Swing segment of the LPGA Tour. This is Maguire\u2019s first outing of the year.<\/p>\n

On this day: February 17th, 1963<\/p>\n

Don January \u2013 known as \u201cBones\u201d to one and all on tour \u2013 was a runaway winner of the Tucson Open, where rounds of 65-67-69-65 for a total of 22-under-par 266 gave him an 11 strokes winning margin over Gene Littler and Phil Rodgers at the Forty Niner Club in Arizona.<\/p>\n

It was January\u2019s second win in the tournament, having also won in 1960 when the event was staged at El Rio. January\u2019s dominant victory gave him a third career win (of 10) on the PGA Tour and a pay-day of $3,500.<\/p>\n

However, it was his actions in playing the Phoenix Open that season which would leave a different legacy, as the Texan was responsible for a change to the rules of golf. During the Phoenix Open, January had waited for a full seven minutes for a putt drop after claiming it was still moving (it never did drop into the hole). After the incident the Rules of Golf were changed to state that players had 10 seconds to tap the ball in or be penalised.<\/p>\n

Social Swing<\/p>\n

Way to go AK! Redemption stories always resonate. From being one of the most talented players in the world, to disappearing from the game, to putting in the work to get yourself back into the winner\u2019s circle \u2013 that takes something special. We all fail at times. Not everyone has the courage to come back, face it, and rebuild. That takes real strength. Congrats, AK. \u2013 Europe\u2019s Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald on Anthony Kim\u2019s return to winning ways in LIV Adelaide.<\/p>\n

Truly unbelievable round of golf today. That course was on the edge. That round of golf and come back is so incredible. Start the movie. It will take a while to unpick and tell AK\u2019s Story. So awesome to see. Respect. And the @4AcesGC for taking him after Reed left. \u2013 Ian Poulter <\/p>\n

Pebble Beach, you got a special place in my heart. What an unbelievable venue. Tied 2nd. Big ups. See you next week at Riviera. \u2013 Min Woo Lee has clearly taken to the Monterey peninsula.<\/p>\n

In the Bag: Collin Morikawa (AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am)<\/p>\n

Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D LS (8 degrees)<\/p>\n

3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D Tour (15 degrees)<\/p>\n

5-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D Tour (18 degrees)<\/p>\n

Irons: TaylorMade PDHy (4), TaylorMade P 7CB (5, 6), TaylorMade P 730 (7-PW)<\/p>\n

Wedges: TaylorMade MG5 (50, 56 and 60 degrees)<\/p>\n

Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X<\/p>\n

Ball: TaylorMade TP5<\/p>\n

Know the Rules<\/p>\n

Q: As a player was searching in a pile of leaves, they accidentally kicked and moved their ball as well as a number of the leaves around the ball. The player estimated where the ball originally lay and replaced it on that spot but did not replace the leaves before making their next stroke. What is the ruling?<\/p>\n

A: There is no penalty for accidentally moving the ball while trying to find it. In replacing the ball the player is not required to replace loose impediments. This situation is covered by Rule 7.4 and Clarification 7.4\/1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The game plan for Rory McIlroy headed into this week\u2019s Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club in Los…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,8693,2623,3027,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-432941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-pga-tour","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-shane-lowry","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}