Rory McIlroy, who should maybe wear a football helmet next time out, will probably remember the name of last week’s Frys.com Open winner even if Emiliano Grillo turns out to be a PGA Tour one-and-doner.
Rookie PGA Tour winner Emiliano Grillo introduces himself to Rory McIlroy by nearly beaning him
Emiliano Grillo will likely be remembered more for his near-beaning of Rory McIlroy at the Frys.com Open than for his first win in his first start as a PGA Tour member.
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Grillo followed up his Web.com Tour championship victory of two weeks ago with an overtime win over Kevin Na on Sunday, for his first W in his first start as a card-carrying member in the big leagues. His clutch 23-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole at Silverado clinched a spot in the playoff, which he won on the second hole.
But the 23-year-old rookie from Argentina actually made the shot of the tournament some 24 hours earlier, when he nearly put McIlroy back on the DL. “Yeah, that would have been bad,” Grillo remarked on Saturday about his tee shot to the 17th green that flew by McIlroy’s head (0:28 in the Golf Channel video below). “Good aim. He’s got a bright shirt. That’s why.”
The real reason for the near-miss was a miscommunication that could have been phoned in from the Indianapolis Colts’ bench. Grillo and his playing partner believed McIlroy and Martin Laird had signaled for them to hit up to the driveable par-4.
“Everybody was waving up the guys behind,” Grillo said. “Everybody thought they were gone or waiting for us. That’s why we hit it. There is nobody from the tour there calling us. We just thought they were done or just mark it so we could go ahead.”
Rory, at war with his putter all week, saw the black humor in the situation.
“Would’ve put me out of my misery,” said McIlroy, who finished T26 at 9-under -- six shots back of Grillo and Na.
Grillo tried to beg McIlroy’s pardon directly.
“I wasn’t able to find him,” Grillo explained on Sunday. “I almost actually run a few fairways across to apologize to him.
“I didn’t want to be the guy who almost hit Rory McIlroy this week,” he noted. “Kind of wanted to have this trophy and everybody to know me because I have the trophy and not because I almost hit him.”
Not to worry. Since the victory punched Grillo’s ticket to the Masters in April, he can make amends at Augusta.
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SB Nation video archives: Urban golfing with a U.S. Open champ (2012)
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