Up on the rails
RORY McILROY had a champion’s support outside the ropes yesterday with jockey AP McCoy following him around Augusta National – and if he can time his run right over the next two days, golfing immortality beckons.
The door to the career Grand Slam club is open after McIlroy pulled level with first-round leader Jordan Spieth on a testing Friday at the Masters.
Breaking par was like breaking bricks with your bare hands at Augusta National yesterday thanks to the swirling winds and terrifyingly quick greens but McIlroy, who is averaging 300 yards off the tee, did so for the second day running.
With Spieth in rapid retreat, it made his patient performance doubly valuable with his 71 in the circumstances at least the equal of his opening 69.
“I could have shot in the 60s – I feel like I left a couple of shots out there on 17 and 18 – but I was pretty pleased with AT AUGUSTA how I played and I’m in a nice position going into the weekend,” McIlroy said.
“I’ve always felt comfortable being up there with the lead and it’s a place I’m thankfully quite familiar with.
“Pars can be a little bit boring and when I came out on Tour I thought these guys birdied every hole, but golf isn’t like that and it has taken me a little while to adjust to.
“It’s such a hard golf course to chase on – that’s when you can get into trouble – so I’m happy to be where I am.”
The conditions made for a testing day and not all the field had the patience to cope.
McIlroy’s playing partner John Rahm exploded after thinning a bunker shot at the fourth, throwing away his sand wedge and kicking his bag in a fit of pique.
“It was so tricky. Every single hole, the wind is coming from a different direction. It swirls around those big, tall trees – if you can get the wind right on every hole you’re in a strong position,” said McIlroy.
Spieth did anything but in a nightmare start.
Fidgety on the practice putting green, he made a hash of the opening hole, pushing his tee shot into the trees to the right and paid with a double-bogey. In a flash his two-shot advantage had evaporated and matters worsened at the second when he went left off the tee and caught a tree branch with his second. A birdie hole became a bogey hole after the Texan ended up shooting 40 for the front nine.
He showed the fight of a champion to retrieve two shots on the back nine but a 74 has opened the door.
Spieth said: “I felt like I had a better round in me than that. But after nine holes I set myself a target of picking up a couple and it was a nice rebound on the back nine. The wheels could have come off there.”
If it is to be a shoot-out between McIlroy and Spieth, it could be one for the ages. The veteran big guns have faded with Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods retreating yesterday.
Woods double-bogeyed the fifth after being forced to take a penalty drop in the shrubbery while Mickelson fared even worse at the ninth.
His shot off the tee put him into a corner from which even he could not escape unscathed. Mickelson ended up further from the hole than he started after his approach cannoned into a pine trunk and ricocheted into even deeper trouble. He carded a triple-bogey seven.
There was more trouble to follow around Amen Corner as Mickelson double-bogeyed the 12th after finding the water with his tee shot.
Ian Poulter, who finished five over, pointed the finger at playing partners Patrick Cantlay and Trevor Immelman after being put on the clock twice for slow play.
“I don’t care if I’m on the clock. It doesn’t bother me. It’s not, it’s never going to affect my golf, so I’m fine. And I know I’m quick enough. That’s all I’m saying,” said Poulter.