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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The contrast was impossible to ignore.
The last time Rory McIlroy held a club he was grinding his way to an emotional missed cut at The Open amongst thousands of Northern Irish fans on a chilly afternoon at Royal Portrush.
By comparison, Wednesday’s practice round at TPC Southwind probably felt like another planet, with temperatures in the high 80s, about a dozen fans tagging along and not a care in the world.
Given the enormity of the moment last Friday, he probably welcomed the relative obscurity as well as the warm temperatures.