St Andrews – Rory McIlroy said on Sunday he was “sick” of not being challenged by European Tour courses which fail to reward barnstorming scoring.
The world number two lashed out after finishing the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in a tie for 26th place despite a 15 under par total.
He carded a final round 67 thanks to birdies on his last six holes but was still seven shots behind champion Victor Perez of France.
“I’m honestly sick of coming back over to the European Tour, shooting 15 under par and finishing 30th,” four-time Major winner McIlroy was quoted by Sky Sports.
“I don’t think the courses are set up hard enough. There are no penalties for bad shots, and it’s tough when you come back when it’s like that. I don’t feel like good golf is regarded as well as it could be.
“I think if the European Tour want to put forth a really good product, the golf courses and setups need to be tougher.”
In his other recent European Tour starts, the Northern Irishman carded a 14 under at the European Masters only to lose to Sebastian Soderberg in a playoff.
He then finished on 11 under at last week’s PGA Championship at Wentworth but was still nine shots off the pace of champion Danny Willett.
Leading final round scores and totals in the Alfred Dunhill Links
Championship, St Andrews, Carnoustie & Kingsbarns, Scotland (GBR and
IRL unless stated, par 72):
266 – Victor Perez (FRA) 64 68 64 70
267 – Matthew Southgate 65 66 65 71
268 – Paul Waring 65 68 65 70, Joakim Lagergren (SWE) 69 62 68 69
269
– Matthew Jordan 66 64 71 68, Tommy Fleetwood 66 69 70 64, Jeunghun
Wang (KOR) 70 65 66 68, Tom Lewis 70 70 65 64, Jordan Smith 64 68 68 69
270
– Tony Finau (USA) 67 66 66 71, Richie Ramsay 65 67 70 68, Andrea Pavan
(ITA) 68 65 67 70, Callum Shinkwin 72 68 63 67, Luke Donald 68 68 64 70
271 – Matt Wallace 70 68 68 65, Mike Lorenzo-Vera (FRA) 68 65 72
66, Alex Noren (SWE) 69 66 68 68, Harry Hall 70 68 68 65, Shane Lowry
73 66 64 68, Tyrrell Hatton 66 68 67 70, Eddie Pepperell 70 66 68 67,
Russell Knox 66 66 70 69
