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Rory McIlroy was still searching for the spark to ignite a challenge at the 149th Open Championship as the four-time Major winner carded a second successive level-par 70 on Friday.
The Northern Irishman, winner of the Open at Hoylake in 2014, began his second round with successive bogeys and never really got any momentum going thereafter.
Birdies on the fourth, ninth and 12th did get McIlroy back under par but he never looked completely in tune with his game and bogeyed the par-three 16th after finding a greenside bunker.
Another bogey at 17 put the 32-year-old in danger of missing the cut before he delighted his large following with a superb birdie on the 18th to guarantee a weekend spot.
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There was no great reaction from McIlroy as the ball rolled in and his body language suggested he feels that his seven-year Major drought will extend beyond Sunday.
He was nine shots behind leader Collin Morikawa and he faces a huge task to play himself into contention.
“I thought yesterday I hung in there well,” McIlroy, who had the worst of the wind during his opening round, said.
“I was looking forward to getting out there today and capitalising on the good finish last night but then two bogeys in the first two holes put me behind the eight ball.”
While McIlroy has shown flashes of his best this year and claimed a first title for 18 months by winning the Wells Fargo Championship in May, he said things are still not clicking.
“That’s sort of been the way for the last couple of months,” he said. “It’s felt close, but it just hasn’t quite been close enough. Just got to keep working on it and persist with it.”
Looking ahead to the weekend, McIlroy said he will have to post a low number on Saturday and hope the weather conditions worsen for the leading players.
“Geez, I know I need to go out and play really well tomorrow and then I need to pray for a bit of wind in the afternoon and see where that gets me,” he said.
“Right now I’m just trying to play my own game and not even look at the board, just try to play a solid round tomorrow.”
Ryder Cup captain Pádraig Harrington will be in action over the weekend after carding a two-under 68 to make it back to level par.
Harrington enjoyed a purple patch after turning in one-over 36, making four birdies in six holes to go under par before a bogey on the 18th brought him back to level par for the tournament.
Clubhouse scores
British and Irish unless stated, par 70
129 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 64 65
131 Collin Morikawa (USA) 67 64
132 Jordan Spieth (USA) 65 67
133 Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 66 67
134 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 70 64, Justin Harding (Rsa) 67 67, Andy Sullivan 67 67, Daniel van Tonder (Rsa) 68 66, Marcel Siem (Ger) 67 67
135 Paul Casey 68 67, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 66 69, Brooks Koepka (USA) 69 66, Jon Rahm (Esp) 71 64
136 Corey Conners (Can) 68 68, Tony Finau (USA) 70 66, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 68 68, Brian Harman (USA) 65 71, Shane Lowry 71 65, Cameron Smith (Aus) 69 67, Danny Willett 67 69
137 Daniel Berger (USA) 70 67, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 70 67, Joel Dahmen (USA) 69 68
138 Tommy Fleetwood 67 71, Ian Poulter 72 66, Webb Simpson (USA) 66 72, Jonathan Thomson 71 67, Johannes Veerman (USA) 70 68, Matt Wallace 70 68, Jack Senior 67 71
139 Max Homa (USA) 70 69, Billy Horschel (USA) 70 69, Viktor Hovland (Nor) 68 71, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 70 69, Chan Kim (USA) 70 69, Kevin Kisner (USA) 70 69, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 69 70, Aaron Rai 70 69, Matthias Schmid (Ger) 74 65, Adam Scott (Aus) 73 66, Kevin Streelman (USA) 70 69, Justin Thomas (USA) 72 67
140 Abraham Ancer (Mex) 69 71, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 68 72, Richard Bland 70 70, Sam Burns (USA) 71 69, Matthew Fitzpatrick 71 69, Pádraig Harrington 72 68, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 66 74, Jason Kokrak (USA) 70 70, Rory McIlroy 70 70, Xander Schauffele (USA) 69 71, Sam Horsfield 70 70
141 Marcus Armitage 69 72, Bryson DeChambeau (USA) 71 70, Rickie Fowler (USA) 69 72, Talor Gooch (USA) 69 72, Ryosuke Kinoshita (Jpn) 72 69, Robert MacIntyre 72 69, Richard Mansell 72 69, JC Ritchie (Rsa) 71 70, Antoine Rozner (Fra) 70 71, Poom Saksansin (Tha) 73 68, Brendan Steele (USA) 73 68, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 71 70
Projected cut mark
142 Keegan Bradley (USA) 71 71, Jorge Campillo (Esp) 72 70, Tyrrell Hatton 72 70, Russell Henley (USA) 70 72 , Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 72 70, Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 69 73, Chris Kirk (USA) 68 74, Kurt Kitayama (USA) 71 71, Marc Leishman (Aus) 75 67, Guido Migliozzi (Ita) 69 73, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 68 74, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 73 69, Ryutaro Nagano (Jpn) 70 72, Ryan Palmer (USA) 72 70, Victor Perez (Fra) 70 72, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 71 71, Harold Varner III (USA) 70 72, Jimmy Walker (USA) 70 72
143 Rafael Cabrera Bello (Esp) 70 73, Patrick Cantlay (USA) 74 69, Branden Grace (Rsa) 72 71, Lucas Herbert (Aus) 70 73, Daniel Hillier (Nzl) 72 71, Charley Hoffman (USA) 72 71, Matt Jones (Aus) 72 71, Troy Merritt (USA) 73 70, Shaun Norris (Rsa) 72 71, Patrick Reed (USA) 72 71, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 71 72, Laird Shepherd 74 69, Brendon Todd (USA) 72 71, Gary Woodland (USA) 73 70, Min-Woo Lee (Aus) 74 69
144 John Catlin (USA) 75 69, Ricardo Celia (Col) 72 72, Ernie Els (Rsa) 72 72, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Esp) 71 73, Adam Hadwin (Can) 75 69, Richard T. Lee (Can) 75 69, Haotong Li (Chn) 75 69, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 75 69, Keith Mitchell (USA) 68 76, Jason Scrivener (Aus) 73 71
145 Jason Day (Aus) 75 70, Brad Kennedy (Aus) 71 74, Alexander Noren (Swe) 74 71, Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 75 70
146 Darren Clarke 71 75, Cole Hammer (USA) 75 71, Matt Kuchar (USA) 74 72, Joe Long 73 73, Thomas Detry (Bel) 72 74
147 Jaco Ahlers (Rsa) 68 79, Sam Bairstow 75 72, Christoffer Bring (Den) 72 75, Romain Langasque (Fra) 74 73, Joost Luiten (Ned) 76 71, Chengtsung Pan (Tai) 71 76
148 Garrick Higgo (Rsa) 73 75, Nicholas Poppleton 75 73, Paul Waring 72 76
149 Abel Gallegos (Arg) 73 76, Ben Hutchinson 77 72, Aaron Pike (Aus) 74 75, Adam Long (USA) 72 77
150 Sam Forgan 73 77
152 Phil Mickelson (USA) 80 72
154 Daniel Croft 76 78
156 Yuki Inamori (Jpn) 75 81
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