Rory McIlroy was full of praise for his new caddie Harry Diamond after their first tournament together at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational that finished with the Northern Irishman putting together four sub-70 rounds to earn a tie for fifth place on seven under, nine shots adrift of runaway champion Hideki Matsuyama.
McIlroy confirmed at the pre-tournament press conference that close-friend Diamond would be on his bag at Firestone as well as next week’s PGA Championship after deciding to terminate his nine-year partnership with JP Fitzgerald.
Diamond was the best man at Mcilroy’s wedding last year so knows the World No.4 extremely well which seems to have relaxed the golfer out on the course as he aims to get his first victory since September 2016.
When talking about his new caddie, Rory graded him an ‘A’ and added: “Harry was good, and he encouraged me when I needed it. We both did yardages and we didn’t really make any mistakes out there. He did what was expected of him, so I guess you can’t not give him an A.”
Now McIlroy is turning his attention to next week where he fancies his chances around Quail Hollow in the final Major of the season – The 2017 PGA Championship – where he looks to win his first Major in three years.
“I’ve won a couple times around Quail Hollow, and I like PGA Championship setups,” said the 28-year-old. “If I’m the favourite, I’m the favourite – I’m happy with that.
“It means I’m playing well, which is much different than going into my last majors. It’s amazing what two weeks can do but such is life. It’s all good.”
