Monday 25 February 2019 16:28, UK
Rory McIlroy insisted he had no grievance with the officials in Mexico following the two controversial rulings involving himself and Dustin Johnson early in the final round.
Johnson was granted relief from behind a tree after he pushed his tee shot too far right at the par-four fifth hole, and he successfully argued that he would have had his right foot on the adjacent cart path if he took his normal stance to punch his ball back into play.
The resulting free drop allowed Johnson to reach the green with his second shot and maintain his comfortable lead with a par, but McIlroy was not so fortunate on the next hole when he tugged his drive behind a tree to the left of the fairway.
McIlroy claimed his stance would have been affected by the cart path if he attempted to pitch further left, but the same rules official, Mike Stewart, insisted that his more logical escape shot did not bring the cart path into play.
Following a lengthy discussion, McIlroy accepted the ruling and stabbed his ball back into play left-handed, although he then came up short with his third from close to 230 yards and found water, a mistake which led to his third bogey-six of the week at the par-five sixth hole.
Despite making six birdies in seven holes on the back nine, Johnson replied with five of his own to run out a comfortable five-shot winner, and McIlroy conceded the two rulings had little bearing on the final outcome.
"I can't control DJ or the rules official," he said afterwards. "If he felt that it was reasonable for DJ to take that drop and it wasn't reasonable for me, then so be it. That's why we have refs out here.
"I could see where he was coming from as well. Even if I did take a drop there, I don't think it would have really given me any benefit. I was sort of going to be going that way into the trees, and I still had a difficult shot.
"I was taking a stance that was hitting it one way, and my foot was on the path, but I could sort of see his point as well. That's why I didn't call for a second opinion, it wasn't going to make much of a difference anyway.
"And it wasn't my best hole this week, but the 17 others were pretty good, so I'll take something from that."
Johnson admitted he benefited from the ruling on the fifth, and added: "I got a fortunate break there and ended up making a nice par. That's just how it goes sometimes.
"That's why I called the rules official over, just because you almost felt a little bad about it, but it was the only way I could play the shot. I even tried to get really close to it and I was still standing on the path, so I was entitled to relief and sometimes the rules work to your advantage."
