Rory McIlroy started his second round at Royal Portrush at 8-over par after a disastrous opening 18 holes, but he put himself in contention to make the cut with a fantastic run up the leaderboard.
Playing in front of his home fans, McIlroy made two birdies on the front-nine before carding four birdies in the span of five holes, beginning with the par-4 10th.
McIlroy came to the 18th tee at 2-over par for the tournament, and needed a birdie to move above the cut line and play the weekend. His approach missed the green, however, and McIlroy was only able to get up and down for par. McIlroy received an incredible ovation as he approached the 18th green.
In the end, McIlroy will look back at a horrendous three-putt on Thursday that was the difference between an early exit and two more rounds at Royal Portrush.
At the par-3 16th, McIlroy didn’t leave himself a realistic birdie chance with his tee shot, and then hit a poor lag putt to set up a difficult third shot. McIlroy missed his par chance and went to quickly tap in – but caught the edge of the hole and made double-bogey.
McIlroy said after his first round that he was busy berating himself over the missed par putt at the time, and rushed the shot.
Via GolfChannel.com:
“That was inexcusable. Lapses of concentration like that, I feel like I’ve done a really good job over the last few years of being more with it and realizing, ‘OK, just keep a cool head.’ And there I didn’t. I hit it on the run and missed it. If I look back at today, it’s probably the shot I’m disappointed about the most.”
Rory’s classy finish caught the attention of Justin Thomas, who safely made the cut at 1-under par through two rounds.
