RORY’S LEVEL HEAD KEEPS HIM IN CHASE
FOUR birdies at the finish was enough to earn Rory McIlroy a level-par score of 71 at the Dell Technologies Championship in Boston.
Despite windy conditions, he bravely kept his head above water on the back nine, in turn, keeping himself in contention for the weekend which will have its final day on Monday as it is Labour Day weekend in the US.
McIlroy came into the tournament 28th in the FedEx Cup rankings but he is still well in contention to claim the title with two more playoff events to go after this event.
The Ulsterman is four shots off leader Chris Kirk whose quick start earned him a share of the clubhouse lead with Keegan Bradley and Beau Hossler as Tiger Woods endured an up-and-down opening round in windy conditions.
Kirk, 2014 winner of the tournament, birdied four of his first seven holes to shoot four-under 67 at TPC Boston in the second round of the FedEx Cup playoffs. He had six birdies and two bogeys for the day.
‘I really struggled on the greens last week,’ said Kirk, ‘but today was a different story.’
Hossler closed fast with four birdies on his last five holes and Bradley made his fifth birdie at the last to tie Kirk.
Woods had trouble from the start in shooting a one-over 72. Playing the back nine first, he picked up a bogey at his first hole, the 10th, and racked up two more before finally getting a birdie.
He wound up with four bogeys and three birdies.
‘No one is going low out there today,’ the former world number one said. ‘It’s tricky with this wind blowing the way it is right now.’
World No1 Dustin Johnson headlined a group of players one stroke off the pace at three-under 68.
They included Australian Marc Leishman, Canada’s Adam Hadwin and Americans Webb Simpson, James Hahn and Xander Schauffele.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout claimed the halfway lead in the Made in Denmark event as local favourite Thorbjorn Olesen narrowly kept his Ryder Cup destiny in his own hands.
Bezuidenhout added a 65 to his opening 66 for a halfway total of 13 under par, two shots ahead of first-round leader Jonathan Thomson and Lee Westwood, with another Englishman Sam Horsfield another stroke adrift.
Olesen occupies the final automatic Ryder Cup qualifying place and can make certain of a debut with a top-six finish, but had to par the final three holes of his second round of 69 simply to make the cut on the mark of two under par.
England’s Eddie Pepperell (69) and Matt Fitzpatrick (68) need to win the event to have a chance of dislodging Olesen and head into the weekend eight and nine shots off the lead respectively.
‘I actually feel really comfortable with my swing and my set up, I just seem to lose it just a little bit with the driver and the same with the irons,’ Olesen said.