McIlroy Overcomes Sawgrass with 64

McIlroy at Sawgrass R2 - Getty Images

Rory McIlroy’s second round in The Players produced a career-best 64, to move to eight-under-par at TPC Sawgrass, and some satisfaction over course that has over the years has caused the Holywood golfer grief.

McIlroy wasted no time in making his move, an opening with a 25 foot for birdie on the 10th, his first of the day, which was followed by four birdies in a row. There was a six-footer on 15 for his fifth birdie and then rolled in a 55 footer from off the green for eagle on the Par 5 16th.

That run on his front nine enabled him to match the day-old record of 29 strokes set by Shane Lowry on Thursday. “The back nine could not have played any easier,” admitted McIlroy.

However the fireworks of that stretch didn’t continue into the homeward run,  with further birdies at the second and seventh only to come unstuck on the Par 5 ninth where McIlroy opted to lay-up with his approach. 

Having left 270 yards to the front of the green he played a poor third shot into the grassy bank of a greenside bunker and ran up a bogey six.

“I guess I have got it in my head that any time I have went for the green it hasn’t really worked out that well for me. With hindsight, that pin being on the left side, (hitting it) anywhere on the right and I would have had a chance to get up and down. But I thought if I get it within 100 yards and take my chance from there. I didn’t hit a great third shot. Maybe if I had it back, I would go for the green,” explained McIlroy, who had eyed a possible 62 if he’d managed to birdie his closing hole.

A round of 64 moved him into contention and into a position far removed from his early years in playing at Sawgrass when he missed the cut in his first three appearances in the tournament. 

“I hit a lot of quality shots, hopefully I’ll continue to see that over the weekend.”

McIlroy wasn’t the only one to take advantage of benign conditions and soft greens, as Colt Knost hit all 18 greens in regulation and shot a course record equalling 63 to leapfrog through the field to lie on 135 at the halfway stage.

Knost even had a chance to set a new course record, but three-putted the 18th for a bogey. “I was fine over the first putt. I was trying to two-putt it, which is probably the problem instead of trying to make it. I was a little nervous over the second one. I knew what it was for. But I didn’t hit a bad putt, I hit it on the left lip and it just stayed there and lipped out.”

Graeme McDowell fired a second round 70 for 142 to at least survive the midway cut.

Pádraig Harrington’s 74 means he missed back-to-back cuts after also failing to survive at the Wells Fargo last week.

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McIlroy Mixed Day at Wells Fargo

McIlroy at Wells Fargo - Getty Images

Rory McIlroy moved into contention midway through his second round at the Wells Fargo Championship in North Carolina on Friday before dropping down the field at Quail Hollow by the last hole.

The world number three did well to avoid a double-bogey on the 18th hole – when he pitched to within a couple of feet of the pin having had to take a penalty drop after finding water with his second shot – to card a three-under 69 that moved him to two under, six shots behind clubhouse leader Andrew Loupe.

McIlroy’s wedge play was the key to his success, a brilliant chip-in eagle from 80 feet at the seventh kick-starting a run that saw him knock in three straight birdies to get to five under for his round after 10 holes

He was within four shots of Loupe at that stage, the American having earlier carded a one-under 71 to post a mark of eight under. But McIlroy failed to keep the foot down, making three bogeys on the final seven holes, with just one more birdie coming on the 14th.

Shane Lowry was two shots outside the cut after carding a a one-over second round of 73.

Pádraig Harrington also missed the weekend with five-over par 77 second round left him on seven over.

Phil Mickelson used his short game pedigree to claw his way within three strokes of Loupe.

The five-times Major champion hit only nine greens in regulation but used his vaunted touch around the greens to piece together a two-under 70.

He got up-and-down to save par on eight occasions, his lone bogey coming at his final hole, where he drove into a bunker.

“I scrapped it around,” said Mickelson. “My short game was sharp. I hit a lot of good iron shots, but I had to play for par a little too many times because I didn’t put it in play off the tee,” he said.

Loupe, who shared the first-round lead with fellow American Steve Wheatcroft, had a chance to build a substantial advantage, only to bogey two of his final three holes for a 71.

“It’s half-time,” said the long-hitting Loupe, who is without a win in 53 starts on the PGA Tour and understands a 36-hole lead counts for little.

American Roberto Castro was one shot behind Loupe on seven under after a fine six-under 66.

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McIlroy Quail Hunt Struggles Opening Day

Rickie Fowler & Rory McIlroy - Getty Images

Rory McIlroy recovered from a poor start to keep his hopes alive of a third victory in the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte.

McIlroy won his first PGA Tour title at Quail Hollow in 2010 and has recorded five top-10 finishes in six appearances in the event, including carding a course-record 61 in the third round last year on his way to a seven-shot win.

But the four-time major winner, who is the only member of the world’s top five yet to win in 2016, had to settle for an opening 73 on Thursday to lie eight shots off the clubhouse lead held by Steve Wheatcroft and Andrew Loupe.

Starting on the back nine, McIlroy dropped shots at the 12th and 13th before carding a double bogey on the 18th, where he missed the green with his approach and three-putted from 13 feet following a clumsy chip.

A birdie from 20 feet on the second was followed by another dropped shot on the next, but McIlroy then two-putted the fifth for a birdie and picked up another shot from just four feet on the sixth.

The 27-year-old had come close to holing his tee shot on the par three despite a disturbance among the spectators, with McIlroy and playing partner Rickie Fowler appearing to point out the offender to security staff.

Another two-putt birdie on the par-five seventh made it three in a row and although McIlroy narrowly missed from 15 feet on the ninth to get back to level par, he at least had not played himself out of contention.

McIlroy has not played competitively since finishing 10th at the Masters and admitted on Wednesday he was attempting to fix some “bad habits” which had crept into his game before Augusta.

He said: “I knew I was going to have to sort of play my way into the next couple of weeks.

“I started off pretty well today but then there was just some shots where I was thinking so much about the swing rather than actually the shot that I was trying to hit and that was really the problem for the front nine.

“I would much rather be in red numbers but I’m much happier where I am now than I was three hours ago. I just need to go out tomorrow and shoot a good second round, something in the 60s, get myself back into the tournament going into the weekend.”

At the top of the leaderboard, Wheatcroft carded two eagles, five birdies and two bogies in his seven under par round, while fellow American Loupe was more consistent with seven birdies.

India’s Anirban Lahiri was on his own a shot further back, while the best British performer in the first round was Scotland’s Martin Laird — who on three under was a shot clear of England’s Justin Rose, Greg Owen, Paul Casey and Ian Poulter and Germany’s Alex Cejka.

Padraig Harrington carded 74 to leave him nine off the pace with three bogeys on the front nine followed up by a further two including his last on the final hole.

Shane Lowry also finished two over par after dropping a shot on the 17th after birdies on 14 and 15.

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McIlroy Out of BMW PGA Championship

Rory McIlroy 

Rory McIlroy will miss the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth this month in a further blow to the European Tour's flagship event.

McIlroy is defending his title in the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow this week and will then contest the Players Championship, followed by the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, an event hosted by his own foundation.

That means the BMW PGA Championship, which he won in 2014, would have been a fourth tournament in a row and the world number three had previously indicated he was not keen on such a schedule following the ankle injury he suffered in 2015.

"The reason I took three weeks off after Augusta was that I'm not going to have more than a week off until after the Ryder Cup. Until October it's going to be very busy," McIlroy said.

"I'm playing here, next week at the Players, the Irish Open and then it's basically week on, week off from there. Memorial, week off, US Open, week off, French Open, week off, Open, week off, PGA, week off, Olympics, week off, Fed Ex Cup, Ryder Cup.

"There's a little bit of travel in there as well so it's a busy stretch coming up and you can't play every week. You want to feel as fresh as you can for every tournament that you play so I feel it's the best way for me to approach it."

The good news for the European Tour is that McIlroy is playing the 100th Open de France instead of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, which he won in 2014.

A re-working of the PGA Tour's 2016 calendar to accommodate golf's return to the Olympics saw the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational brought forward to the end of June, bringing it into direct conflict with the French Open at Le Golf National, venue for the 2018 Ryder Cup.

The European Tour responded by withdrawing its sanction of the WGC event just two days after Shane Lowry won it last August, meaning money won in Akron will not count for Ryder Cup points or towards the Race to Dubai.

The French Open will also offer increased prize money and extra Ryder Cup qualifying points, as well as counting as two of the five tournaments outside majors and WGC events which players now need to play to fulfil their membership. 

Speaking ahead of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai last November, European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley said he wanted to see the BMW PGA Championship offering more prize money than its current "unacceptable" €5 million.

"A lot of people talk about Wentworth as being a flagship event," Pelley said. "Wentworth is €5.1 million. The other event in the US that week is $6 million. That's unacceptable. Wentworth needs to be $8-$10 million dollars.

"The important thing for me at Wentworth is what they do to the West Course. From everything that I have heard, there is significant investment. We are continuing at Wentworth until at least 2018 and if the West Course becomes exactly what they believe it will, and we can increase the prize purse, then perhaps it can be a flagship event going forward.

"Our flagship event right here is the DP World Tour Championship, which is eight million dollars plus a bonus prize."

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