Rollback and Separate

Competitors in the WGC-Dell Match Play hit more than 60 tee shots on the 368-yard 18th hole at Austin Country Club this past week. In a different era, more would have laid back to the top of the hill and hit a wedge onto the green. These days, most hit driver.

The majority of this week’s tee shots found the swale 40-70 yards short of the green, leaving a blind wedge into the green. Even when the hole played downwind, most of the longest drives stayed on the hill short of the green.

Of the 60 tee shots on the week, two were long enough to get pin high. One wound up four feet from the cup. Both were hit by Rory McIlroy.

“It’s almost one of those that when it’s that much downwind, I could have hit 3-wood to hit the downslope and get the scoot,” McIlroy said. “I was imagining the driver was going to land into upslope and stay 10, 20 yards short. But I didn’t imagine I could fly it on there.”

Rory’s drives, especially the one on Thursday that nearly wound up inside the leather, were among the most memorable tee shots of the past decade. Others include Dustin Johnson’s into the 12th at Kapalua and Collin Morikawa’s on the 16th at TPC Harding Park. Like those, McIlroy’s booming drive set up an eagle. It was the only eagle given up by the hole during the tournament, and it gave him a 2-up win over Denny McCarthy.

Incidentally, the night before the Match Play got underway, in an interview with No Laying Up, McIlroy expressed his support for the USGA and R&A’s proposal for a reduced-flight Model Local Rule ball. “I think [the rollback] is only gonna help the better player,” he said. “You know, it might help the longer player too, in some ways. But I think it’s going to help the overall professional game… making guys hit some long irons again, and some mid-irons, and being able to hit every club in your bag in a round of golf.”

Less than 48 hours after this interview came out, McIlroy wowed the golf world by driving the 18th green at Austin Country Club.

It’s notable that one of the best drivers in the world can be pro-rollback while many PGA Tour players who are less talented off the tee are vehemently against it. Allowing the best to separate from the rest, as Rory did on Thursday, should be everyone’s goal. No one really cares how far McIlroy’s tee shot traveled; we care that he was the only one to hit the green, the only one to make eagle. We care that his supreme talent made him stand out. If the tee were set up at 355 yards instead of 370, the effect would be the same.

Austin Country Club and the Match Play allowed the top players to separate themselves from weaker opponents. A modest rollback of the golf ball would help do the same.