MOVING DAY FOR RORY
He put the berk in Birkdale in round one but from a 400-1 no-hopper, McIlroy’s just 7-1 at halfway and now a most unlikely triumph beckons
RORY McIlroy, in that charming but blunt way of his, was having none of it.
Asked if he was proud of himself as a person, not just as a golfer, with the way he has fought his way back into contention, there was a grin and a shrug.
“It’s not as if I went through war out there,” McIlroy said. “It was just a round of golf.”
Just a round of golf, indeed. A very accomplished round of golf but a round of golf all the same.
Maybe that was the key. This was Rory, laid-back but never remotely disinterested, taking happy conversational detours with his playing partners and caddies but never losing focus. Smiling his way round, taking squarely on an uplifted chin the vagaries a vicious day on the links can land. There was a mischievous look about McIlroy, as though he knew the mojo was back, as though he knows there are few, if any, out there with the bravura talent to charge through this coming weekend. He remembered it was just a round of golf and golf is what he does better than anyone, whatever the world rankings say. What he does, for example, is demolish the fiendishly difficult par-four sixth with a 350-yard drive, a short iron and a four-foot putt. Some of his play on the front nine was simply spectacular. As spectacularly good in round two here as it was spectacularly bad in round one. It was towards the end of that opening six-hole, five bogey aberration that his caddie JP Fitzgerald uttered the a line that will have its place in the sport’s chronicles. “You’re Rory McIlroy, what the f*** are you doing?” Its effect was not just instant. Five over for those first halfdozen, seven under through his next two dozen. Odds of almost 400-1 with one bookmaker at his grimmest low on Thursday, 7-1 with the same bookmaker when he completed his two-under 68 yesterday that leaves him handily placed at one-under at the halfway stage.
No, he wasn’t in a war but his resolve has been remarkable.
“I was very proud of myself that I hung in there and tried to stay as positive as I possibly could,” McIlroy said.
“To be in after two days and be under-par for this championship after the way I started, I’m ecstatic about that.”
He looked ecstatic. He did for most of the round.
“That is not always the case and that’s where his caddie sometimes comes in with a word or two.
“He does do it quite often, whether it penetrates my head is a different thing,” said McIlroy.
“He’s great. He tries to keep
me as positive as he possibly can. And sometimes I get down on myself.
“We’ve been together for nine years. He knows me pretty well and he knows what to say out there and what not to say. And he definitely said the right thing yesterday when I needed it.”
McIlroy could have got a little down on himself in a battle against the back nine. He could have simmered over the drive on the 15th that was so far off line, a directional sign for the punters had to be unbolted to allow him to play his next shot clearly.
He didn’t. He took a hardearned bogey in his stride, got the shot back on the 17th, and departed Birkdale on day two as one of the favourites to lift the Claret Jug tomorrow.
At one point on Thursday, he was 121st of 156 competitors.
Heading for his late lunch, a final question sent him on his way.
Would he be watching the inevitable struggles of his rivals for the rest of the day?
“No. I’ve thought about golf enough today. I don’t really need to see those guys out there.”
For McIlroy, it’s about balance. Focusing on his golf but not being consumed by it.
Not getting too pumped up, not getting too deflated. For now, the balance is right. If it stays that way, one of the most unlikely Open wins could beckon.