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Rory McIlroy proved again on Saturday, March 9, that he is one of the best drivers in world golf. During the third round of the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Northern Irishman broke an anthological record for this tournament.
McIlroy became the first player in the ShotLink era (which began in 2003) to drive the green of the 10th hole at Bay Hill Club & Lodge, where the Arnold Palmer Invitational is held. It is a par-4 401-yard hole with a fairway curving to the right, with a dogleg between the tee box and the green.
The Northern Irishman decided to look for the green over the dogleg and hit a 365-yard drive that landed on the edge of the rough and rolled about 10 feet into the green. It is the first time this feat has been performed, according to PGA Tour records.
The play was broadcast live on the event's television coverage. The video was posted by the PGA Tour on its official X account (formerly Twitter) and the post reached more than 480,000 views in four hours.
At the end of the third round, a journalist asked Rory McIlroy if he had tried to drive Bay Hill's 10th hole before. Here's what the Northern Irishman had to say (via TenGolf):
"No, but I wasn't as long as I am now, I'm definitely a good few yards longer, over the last couple of years, than I have been in the past. I thought if I got it in one of the two front traps, that would be a good leave to hit something up the green, but I wasn't trying to hit it on the green. But it was nice to walk up and see it on there."
A look at Rory McIlroy's performance at the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational
Rory McIlroy started the third round of the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational outside the Top 20, with a score of 1 under. The Northern Irishman played the front nine of the so-called 'moving day' with no birdies and two bogeys, so he made the turn at 1 over.
However, he found his best game on the back nine. After making birdie (with record included, as described above), McIlroy also birdied the 12th, the 13th and from 16th to 18th, to finish the round with a score of 4 under.
His performance on Saturday gives him a score of 5 under after 54 holes. He is temporarily T8, four strokes behind leader Scottie Scheffler.
