Rory McIlroy did not get off on the right foot in his second round at the Travelers Championship.
Starting the day two back of the lead after a bogey-free 66 Thursday, the world No. 2 succumbed to the strong winds at TPC River Highlands in Connecticut.
“Got off to a rough start,” the Northern Irishman said, “3 over through 4 (holes), 3 over through 7.”
Then, he flipped the script on his round.
After making the turn, the five-time major champion birdied Nos. 10, 13 and 15 to claw back towards the top of the leaderboard.
“To get it back somewhat close to even par for the day was good,” said McIlroy, who shot 1 over 71. “I battled well. I hit some good shots and held it together when it could have got away from me early in the round.”
Making a late charge, McIlroy bogeyed the par-17th, albeit in impressive fashion.
He pulled his tee shot into the right fairway bunker with water surrounding the right side of the fairway. With 156 yards over the water to the hole, he splashed his second shot; however, it skipped and stayed dry, settling 36 yards from the hole. He had a chance to salvage par, but just missed a 13-foot putt.
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Had the ball fallen to the bottom of the hazard, McIlroy’s scorecard would have been much worse.
“The ball on 17, I was on the downslope in the bunker and I was afraid of hitting it fat and just hitting it straight into the water in front of me,” McIlroy said. “I caught it a little skinny, and thankfully it skipped through, and I still made a bogey, but it probably saved me a shot by skipping out."
“It was a little fortunate.”
McIlroy enters the weekend T9 at 5 under, four back of the lead.
Considering how he began his round, he’ll take it.
“I don't feel like I’m too far away again,” McIlroy said. “The conditions today definitely bunched the entire field together, and should make for an exciting weekend.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Water Skip Keeps Rory McIlroy in Travelers Championship Hunt After Big Turnaround .
