despite

Visa Cash App RB F1 Team has come away with points in four straight races, dating back to the Miami Grand Prix. That weekend saw both Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda finish in the points in the F1 Sprint Race — a result Ricciardo enjoyed deep into the afternoon in Miami, even after his struggles in qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix — and kicked off a string of good results for the team, including Ricciardo’s P8 in the Canadian Grand Prix.

That streak appears headed for an end at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Like many teams, VCARB brought a series of upgrades to Barcelona, but those upgrades have yet to materialize into results on the track. After a Friday that saw both drivers at the back of the field, the team hoped the data would uncover some answers for improved lap times on Saturday.

No such luck. Both Ricciardo and Tsunoda were eliminated in Q1, and they will start alongside each other in the ninth row on Sunday, with Tsunoda in P17 and Ricciardo in P18.

Despite that result, both drivers remained positive in their post-qualifying comments.

“We’ve been struggling with pace this weekend and tried multiple things to try and improve, and in the end, I felt better in qualifying than in Free Practice. At least I’m happy with my lap and feel like I was able to maximise the current package,” said Tsunoda. “The last races have been going well and even if it’s a shame, I think it’s important that we’re facing this more difficult moment together as a team. It’s a good opportunity to learn from our struggles and grow as a team. The most important thing is to remain positive, and we certainly will.”

While the lap times were not there for Ricciardo, he still believes that the team made progress overnight with the setup.

“It’s a tricky weekend. We have a lot of new parts on the car, and we still need to understand the best way to make them work,” began Ricciardo. “After yesterday, when we were still finding a bit of balance, we made pretty big changes overnight and today in qualifying the car felt much more together.

“We made progress in terms of feeling and balance, but unfortunately, we’re still in a tough spot in terms of the stopwatch. Being out of Q1 with both cars, especially using three sets of soft each, shows that at the moment, we don’t have the pace,” continued the VCARB driver. “There’s still more to find and we’ll keep chipping away. Tomorrow is going to come around quick, but we have a few races ahead of us with similar track characteristics, so we obviously need to figure out together the things we’re missing.”

Jody Egginton, the team’s Technical Director, praised both drivers for their feedback to the team. While VCARB may not be happy with the results at the moment, Egginton sounded hopeful that this weekend has laid the groundwork for further progress over the rest of the year.

“In terms of car balance, there has been some improvement,” began Egginton. “This alone has not been enough, so clearly, we have a lot of homework to do tonight, but also ahead of Austria, to extract more from the car and a large part of this work will be [analyzing] in detail the aero data we have gathered here in Barcelona.

“On the flip side, both drivers have done a good job of supporting the engineering team with feedback on the numerous test items we have evaluated here and also extracting the maximum from the cars we have been able to provide them with, so we have plenty of data to work with to make the necessary steps forward.”

Rory McIlroy has a 10-year-old monkey on his back, but to shake it off, he will have to overcome a three-shot deficit during the final round of the U.S. Open.

Despite that, McIlroy, who last won a major in 2014, feels confident that he can still find a way to triumph at Pinehurst No. 2.

“I’ve got a great chance going into [Sunday],” McIlroy said after his 1-under 69.

“I love the test that Pinehurst is presenting, and you’ve got to focus and concentrate on every single shot out there. It’s what a U.S. Open should be like. It’s obviously great to be in the mix.”

The biggest obstacle in McIlroy’s path is not the challenging test that Pinehurst presents. Instead, it is Bryson DeChambeau, who shot a 3-under 67 on Saturday. DeChambeau, who is 7-under through 54 holes, is the only player to card three straight rounds in the 60s on this par 70 layout. He pulled away from the contenders on the back nine thanks to his remarkable driving prowess, aggressive iron play, and clutch putting.

Yet, even DeChambeau is not immune to Pinehurst’s diabolical ‘Turtleback’ greens. Look no further than the par-4 16th hole, where DeChambeau’s second shot rolled off the front of the green. His third shot then did the same, which led to an unfortunate double-bogey.

After DeChambeau stumbled, he dropped back to 6-under for the championship, a score that McIlroy briefly sat at, too.

But the Northern Irishman made a slew of poor iron shots down the stretch, which led to a pair of bogeys on the 15th and 17th holes—both par-3s.

“The last few holes are playing very, very difficult,” McIlroy explained.

“Even 17, it’s downwind, but with that pin cut at the front, it’s hard to get that ball close, and even on 18 where that [front] hole location is.”

McIlroy had a chance to salvage his bogies with a closing birdie, but his attempt on the last slid past the hole, leaving him at 4-under for the championship. That put him in the penultimate Sunday pairing with Ryder Cup rival Patrick Cantlay.

“I’m excited about it. It would have been nice to hole that putt at the last, get to 5-under, and break out of that logjam at four. Pros and cons. Pros and cons to being in the last group, and maybe playing one group ahead might not necessarily be a bad thing,” McIlroy reasoned.

“I’m pretty much in the same position I was last year going into the final day at [the Los Angeles Country Club]. So familiar position, been here many times before, and hopefully tomorrow I produce the golf that’s needed to go one better.”

One year ago in Los Angeles, McIlroy entered the final round trailing Wyndham Clark and Rickie Fowler by a stroke at 9-under. Those two comprised the final group, while McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler went off second to last.

Rory McIlroy, U.S. Open — Rory McIlroy hits his tee shot on the 17th hole.

McIlroy got off to a solid start, birdieing the opening par-5. But that marked his last par-breaker of the day. His bogey at the par-5 14th ultimately sealed his fate, which left him short of another major again. He finished one behind of Clark.

Getting off to a strong start is a must for McIlroy this time around, especially since his deficit is two strokes greater than the one he faced a year ago. Pinehurst No. 2 is also a much more challenging course than the Los Angeles Country Club, which yielded a pair of record-breaking 62s last year. No one has come close to that this week.

But McIlroy believes in himself and his game plan. He still feels he can get the job done despite the adversity he faces.

“I think there’s holes where you have to be aggressive. There are holes where you have to be conservative. There are hole locations that you can take on and hit wedges close to. There are hole locations you’ve got to stay away from,” McIlroy explained.

“It tests your chipping. It tests your putting. It obviously tests your mental fortitude more than any other golf tournament. But it’s a style of golf that I’ve started to try and embrace over these last few years, and it’s the reason that my performances at the U.S. Open have been much improved over the last half a decade.”

Nobody can rival McIlroy’s U.S. Open record since 2019, even though he has not emerged victorious. That, of course, will change if DeChambeau wins Sunday, which would mark his second U.S. Open title in four years. But McIlroy feels confident that he can stop him from doing so. Whether he can get the job done is a different story.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.

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