Rory McIlroy's second round at The Open was a tale of two games: imperious driving but wayward putting, leaving him at one under par and five shots behind the leaders. The world No. 2 drove the 414-yard par-four 9th green, sending his ball 403 yards to within 11 feet of the hole, but missed the eagle putt and settled for birdie. He carded a 67, three under par, but felt he left shots out there.
Mixed emotions after solid round
McIlroy acknowledged the contrast: "Honestly, my gameplan was to hit it to the top of the hill and hit a wedge on and go from there. But sometimes opportunities present themselves and you have to take them." Despite missing several birdie chances from 10 to 20 feet, he was pleased to make the cut. "The main objective was to be here for the weekend, which I am," he said. "I felt like I left a couple out there. Then you look at the board and you see a couple of 62s, and you feel like you could have done a bit better."
Putting struggles persist
McIlroy's putting improved slightly from day one, when he ranked 155th out of 156 players in strokes gained, losing three strokes to the field. He sought help from putting guru Brad Faxon before the second round but remains uneasy on Birkdale's greens. "I'm still trying to figure out these greens a little bit," he said. "I've struggled the last couple of days. It was a little better today, but still didn't feel 100% comfortable. Hopefully I'll try to figure that out as the week goes on." He described the pin positions as "very tricky" and noted that some putts behaved unexpectedly. "I hit a couple of putts yesterday, and I felt like I hit good putts and they did something completely different to what I saw in the read, and I think that's a little unnerving. So it's just a matter of trying to trust and commit to what you're seeing."
McIlroy not counting himself out
Despite being well back, McIlroy remains optimistic, noting that few leaders have experience in major championship pressure. "There's a couple of guys up there, this will be sort of their first experience of playing in the lead at a major championship on the weekend," he said. "Obviously some that are very experienced at it like Cam [Young] and like Sam [Burns] as well. But if I can get off to a decent start tomorrow, be four or five under for the tournament, I'll be right in it."
Playing partner Fitzpatrick misses cut
McIlroy's playing partner Matt Fitzpatrick struggled to a four-over total, missing the cut. Fitzpatrick expressed frustration: "I didn't really feel like I played that bad. I've hit three shots today exactly how I wanted them. One is in a bush 30 yards long. One has been on the green for basically 15 seconds and then dropped off, and that cost me a shot. Then I've hit one that somehow has gone less than the normal number and now all of a sudden you're plugged in the face of a bunker. That's the way links golf is. When it's this firm, there's a lot of luck of the bounces and luck of the lies."
