Rory McIlroy put his adoring gallery through the wringer again. Hole by hole for the first five, he stepped forward, fell back, stepped forward again, only to fall back before he steadied the ship and heart rates around Royal Portrush to finish the day on three under going into the weekend of the Open Championship.
Six consecutive pars between the sixth and 11th holes with birdies on 12 and 14 moved McIlroy forward in that he finished two shots better than when he started, but the field also moved on.
American lefty Brian Harman, the 2023 Open champion at Hoylake, added a 65 to his opening 69 to end the second day on eight under, five shots ahead of the Irish Grand Slam winner.
It was vintage McIlroy only in glimpses, from his first tee shot, which he tugged left, to his four birdies, the 153rd Open was no place for the faint-hearted fan.
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McIlroy’s default expression on what was a dry and warm first 17 holes before the heavens opened was one of mild frustration.
The errant drives early on, the tap-in putts for par when he really needed birdies and the way he was stubbornly unable to climb the scoreboard equally frustrated the fans, who were sometimes 20 deep at the choke points around the tees and greens.
The nub of it was that at the end of the day McIlroy had hung in while the tournament leaders had moved on.
“I know what I need to do to get the best out of myself in an environment like that,” said McIlroy. “I’ve been somewhat close to my best over the first two days in little bits here and there.
“I’m going to need to have it all under control and have it sort of all firing over the weekend to make a run.”
It had all looked so different when he dropped a putt from 17 feet for birdie on the first hole. McIlroy flexing is what the fans had come to see.
The moment of elation and a healthy looking two under on the scoreboard was short-lived as his drive on the par-5 second almost carried the out of bounds line.
McIlroy took a penalty drop and still made par on the hole before a bad lie on the par-3 third hole had him standing in the bunker and hitting from the grass with the club gripped well below the handle.
A dropped shot there brought him back to one under before a fairway-splitting tee shot on the fourth set him up for birdie and back to two under.
McIlroy found more trouble on the fifth when he drove into a bunker and the elevation required to clear the front lip made it too high for the ball to have the energy to move forward. He didn’t make the green, his chip and right to left putt skimming the cup. He was back to one under.
That was the end of the spluttering game as he turned in 36, having made par on six, seven, eight and nine.
More pars were carded on 10 and 11 before a 328 drive hit the fairway and his second made the green at the par-5 12th hole.
A brilliant putt from just over 30 feet that tracked all the way seemed destined to drop for eagle. But the groans in the stands told another story and McIlroy left with a birdie four.
On 14 he hit a monster 380-yard drive, then holed out from 17 feet for another birdie to get to three under before making par all the way home.
“Another solid day,” said McIlroy. “A couple under, improved a little bit on yesterday, hit it in play a little bit more off the tee, which was nice to have some looks out of the fairway and into some of these greens.
“Yeah, it was a good day. I feel like I maybe could be a couple closer to the lead, but overall, in a decent position heading into the weekend.”
For the galleries that followed him around to the rain-soaked 18th hole, there were signs of the power within the McIlroy golf beast.
A few better positions off the tee to give him better looks at pins from fairway lies and instead of several shaved cups, the balls might have dropped. Either way McIlroy was wistful and positive to be competitive.
“It was 20 years ago that I played the North of Ireland here, and never in my wildest dreams did I think that I’d be coming back as a Grand Slam champion with the support of a nation behind me trying to win an Open Championship,” he said. “I count myself very grateful and very lucky that I’m in this position, and I’m excited for the weekend.”
He won’t be alone in that with around 50,000 tramping the Dunluce links on Friday and the same expected on Saturday and Sunday.
