(Getty Images photo)
By John Strege
Rory McIlroy took dead aim at the par-4 17th hole at Emirates Golf Club in the third round of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic on Saturday, his ball skirting the hole in his bid to make a hole-in-one that would have paid him $2.5 million.
"Would have paid for a wedding," he said, according to this story in the Independent. McIlroy is engaged to be married to tennis star Caroline Wozniacki. "I was thinking it was good. You never know because you can't really see the pin. I got up there and saw the pitch mark. It must have just run by the hole."
Tournament organizers have offered $2.5 million to anyone making a hole-in-one on the par 4 in the final two rounds. The tee was moved up, so that the hole, a dogleg right, was playing 325 yards on Saturday.
McIlroy, who trails leader Stephen Gallacher by two, vowed before the tournament that he would make an effort at the ace, even on Sunday, wherever he stood on the leaderboard.
The best of Golf Digest delivered daily
Sign UpWill be used in accordance with our PRIVACY POLICY