Sitting nearly 90 feet away from the cup on the green, Rory McIlroy had a bunker between the ball and the hole. The unique short-grass surface on the 201-yard 6th hole presented an awkward challenge for the World No. 2. And he dealt with it with an equally surprising shot, using his wedge on the green. The Irishman thought it was a tricky shot to hit. But Michael Kim believes that was not the case.

Tweeting in response to McIlroy’s statement, Kim wrote, “It’s actually not that difficult chipping off a green. Grass is too short and compact to really trap the club like fairway grainy Bermuda. It can be tougher from the fear of taking a divot which feels awful and you can’t hit it super high but it’s a very clean lie.”

“I guess I should add, if you find chipping from the fairway difficult then yes, chipping from a green is also difficult but for a guy like Rory, it is not any more difficult.”

Playing on the shortest grass on the hole, there will be little to no green between the ball and the wedge for McIlroy to worry about mishitting it. And the World No. 2 is too good a golfer to worry about mishitting it on that part of the course. By then, he had already scored three birdies and remained flawless in the round. So it wasn’t like he lacked the confidence to strike the ball accurately.

Moreover, McIlroy has been excellent with the wedge recently in much tougher situations. He has a good recovery rate from sand and roughs. His scrambling percentage in 2025 was 58.04%, which was great considering how often he relies on his driving to gain strokes.

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McIlroy has also hit some interesting wedge strokes in recent months.

Rory McIlroy’s surprising efforts with the wedge

Magical moments can occur when the World’s No. 1 and 2 are playing together. That’s what happened in August 2025, when Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy were paired for the opening round of the TOUR Championship.

Trying to close the Thursday round on a high, McIlroy wanted to escape the 18th hole bunker quickly. He hit a hard wedge shot that flew high and fast across the green. To his and Scheffler’s disbelief, the ball hit the grandstand behind the rough and bounced back onto the green. What’s even funnier is that it rolled 17 feet away from the hole.

The cameras pointed at McIlroy, who was seen shaking his head in denial. Then it shifted to Scheffler, who was seen laughing at the incident. The crowd loved the camaraderie between the two top golfers on the PGA Tour. The moment wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for McIlroy’s mastery with the wedge and his Irish luck.