Rory Mcilroy, Honda Classic | featured news

Rory McIlroy says the pressure of meeting expectations as golf's No. 1 player got the best of him when he quit and walked off the course last week. He says he has learned his lesson and "it won't happen again."...

On Friday morning, by the time he reached the ninth hole of his second round, Rory McIlroy was, he said, “seeing red.” His bottom right impacted wisdom tooth, which is being treated by his childhood dentist in Belfast, was causing him pain. His “out of sorts” swing was causing him more pain. His scorecard through eight holes -- par, double bogey, par, bogey, par, par, triple bogey, bogey -- was causing him the most pain. When his second shot on the 18th hole at PGA National, home course for the Honda Classic, settled in a pond, McIlroy’s mind was overwhelmed with a single thought: “I don’t want to be here.”

Rory McIlroy, the world’s No. 1 golfer, abruptly withdrew from the Honda Classic midway through his round this morning. McIlroy was having a dismal day, shooting seven over par through the first eight holes at PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., but initially offered only a mysterious explanation for his withdrawal as he left the course.