Rory McIlroy takes his Open bunker break in round of 70 to stay in the mix

The nature of the beast on this links hard by the mudflats of the Dee Estuary is primarily about its bunkering. Pot bunkers. Cross bunkers. But mainly the pot bunkers, with their steeply revetted sods of banking. They are designed to put the hearts crossways in any player, as evidenced by some of the carnage wreaked in the opening round of the Open Championship.

So, when Rory McIlroy’s four-iron approach to the par-five fifth hole moved slightly left and disappeared into the pot bunker short of the green, he was expecting the worse.

He need not have done, for, unbeknown to him, and in a display of compassion from the R&A, instructions had been given to the greenkeeping staff who had rose at dawn to reconfigure the sand in the bunkers to allow balls have a chance to at least roll back towards the centre of the trap rather than be glued to the turfed bank.

“It pitched on top of the bunker and came back in, and I thought it was going to be [up against the face]. I didn’t know at this point that they’d made that little gradual rise up into the face, and when I got up there, I was pleasantly surprised that I had a shot. I wouldn’t say there’s one person in the field that wouldn’t welcome that change,” said McIlroy.

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What’s more, McIlroy made the most of his fortune with a brilliant bunker shot which nestled mere inches from the cup and gave him a tap-in birdie, one of three to go with two bogeys in a second round 70. That left the world number two on one-under-par 141 and moved him up the leaderboard to within sniffing distance of contention. Close enough to make those ahead look behind them, that’s for sure.

McIlroy’s bunker play is an underappreciated part of his game which, of course, is mainly admired for what he can do with driver in hand. On this occasion, though, the Northern Irishman plotted his way around the course, more often using iron off the tee than going instinctively for the big dog (or at least the driver with the labradoodle headcover!)

His closing deed was to claim a birdie on the par-five 18th – tee shot into rough, his second into more rough and his third a pitch to eight feet which he holed – to give him that old pep back into his step. Less than a week on from capturing the Scottish Open in spectacular fashion, McIlroy’s game has him in the mix again as he goes in search of a fifth career Major and second Claret Jug. It’s a long time since 2014, though.

“I don’t think I have to do anything differently,” said McIlroy of heading into the weekend playing catch-up if he is to end that barren spell of nine years. “I’m hitting the ball well from tee to green. I’ve missed a couple of chances on the greens, the wind got me today. It’s hard sometimes in two minds whether to play the wind or not to play the wind.

“But that stretch, like 12, 13, 14, those greens are quite exposed, and you sort of have to play the wind a little bit. I’m nine back [of Brian Harman], I might be nine back, but I don’t think there’s going to be a ton of players between me and the lead going into the weekend. It depends what the conditions are [on Saturday]. Obviously depends what Brian does, as well.”

But the smile told its own story. He’s in this.