Rory McIlroy has moved to clear up comments he made about the set-up at Aronimink after putting himself right into the mix to win the PGA Championship.
McIlroy appears to have a real chance to win his seventh major title on Sunday in Philadelphia. The Northern Irishman began the third round at one over par after not making a single bogey on Friday.
A superb 66 brought the 37-year-old into real contention. And with the conditions getting trickier as the day went on, McIlroy looks set to finish inside the top 10 heading into the final round.
With that, he may be thankful for how the course was set up.
Rory McIlroy clears up his previous comments about Aronimink
Aronimink has been a fascinating test. At the start of the week, many would have been forgiven for wondering whether the major championship scoring record may be broken.
However, those who were anticipating low scores have been silenced emphatically. Those on four over par made the cut, while eight shots separated all of the players who made the weekend.
McIlroy criticised the set-up on Friday, insisting that the congested leaderboard was a sign of a poor layout.
But speaking to Sky Sports after his third round, McIlroy has clarified his statements about Aronimink.
“I wasn’t trying to be critical of the set-up. All I was trying to say was that when you have these big old golf courses that have been renovated with wide fairways and big greens and you start to tuck the pins away, it means everyone plays the exact same way and that is why you see such a bunched leaderboard,” he said.
“It is very entertaining for the people at home and very frustrating for the people out there playing. You have heard Scottie, Shane, myself. Because it even felt like some of your good shots were not getting rewarded with where some of the hole locations were, I think we were all just a little frustrated as we came off the course yesterday.
“I was not trying to be critical and it’s just a product of this golf course. I guess having the ability to put the pins away so we can’t get to them.
“It is going to provide a very entertaining championship, especially going into the last day, but I was not trying to be critical. I was just saying that these sort of set ups seem to bunch the field together.”
Speaking to the media, McIlroy suggested what he expects from the pin placements on Sunday.
“Yeah, I think it’s been a good balance, in fairness. Like if I’m reflecting on the last three days, I think there’s been a really good balance of tough pins and then pins that you can get at a little bit more,” he said.
“I would expect the same tomorrow. There’s going to be some that you can be aggressive to and some you just have to take your 25, 30 feet and get out of there with a par.”
What Rory McIlroy thinks fans will make of the PGA Championship venue
Few fans will have any sympathy for McIlroy’s comments where he has expressed his frustration about the venue.
The major championships should provide the most thorough tests in the game. So hearing players complain about the fairness does seem bizarre.
Admittedly, there have been a number of good shots that have not been rewarded. But that is always going to be the case at the tougher major championship venues.
And McIlroy has admitted that he would be delighted by how Aronimink is playing if he was watching at home.
“Look, when you have a set of greens like this, you can start to frustrate people pretty easily, I think. You heard it in me last night. You heard it in Scottie. I saw some of his comments. Shane. I think there was a lot of guys that were frustrated yesterday coming off the course,” he said.
“Again, it’s frustrating to us, but at the same time, it creates a helluva entertaining championship. If I wasn’t playing this tournament, I’d love what’s going on this week, but watching and playing are two different things.”
While the players have been conflicted over the set-up this week, it does appear that Aronimink has won a lot of admirers from the fans who expected another PGA Championship to turn into a birdie fest.