McIlroy finds his putting touch to mount a Tinseltown challenge
Here in Tinseltown, they just adore a big-name cast and when the weatheraffected Genesis Open at last reached the halfway stage yesterday, the leaderboard was positively box office, with four former world No1s in the top eight. And courtesy of a putting performance that was classic Jekyll and Hyde, Rory McIlroy was threatening to upstage them all.
The Irishman was the star of the morning, playing the six holes he had left in four under for a bogeyless eightunder 63, his lowest competitive score in five months. There was a 20-footer on the fourth (his 13th), a 35-footer on the fifth and after almost holing an ap- proach from 160 yards on the seventh, he watched a 30-footer descend on the eighth. This was in direct and happy contrast to the first round.
In that 72, he took 35 putts. In the second round he took 28. “Yeah, I just saw my stats and you could they were a little better,” McIlroy said. “I hit more fairways, hit more greens, hit it closer to the hole and made more putts. So that all adds up to a better round.”
On seven under, the 29-year-old was clearly a very happy and determined man once he went back to his hotel – in his words “to get away from the circus”. When he returned in the afternoon to start the third round, he was only four behind leaders Justin Thomas and Adam Scott. There was plenty of golf left and today will be extremely long as the PGA Tour tries to avert a second Monday finish in as many weeks. Yet McIlroy will fancy his chances of a first title in 11 months if his dramatic improvement on the greens continues.
He has racked up top fives in his two starts in 2019 so far and, as they like to say in America, is “trending”.
McIlroy would certainly have enjoyed playing so well in the company of Tiger Woods, who was his driving force as a child. But, as he does, Woods still managed to create the biggest cheers on a chilly morning when converting a 25-footer from the back of the green on his last hole (the ninth) for a 71 to take him to one under.
It was a vintage Woods moment as he believed he had to hole it to avoid missing the cut at this event for a second time in succession. As it turned out the axe came down at level par, but that did not diminish his sense of theatre. “I knew that one under was going to get in,” he said. “So I get two more rounds to get after it. Hopefully I can find my putting. It can’t get any worse than it was the first round; four three-putts is as bad as a human being can putt.”
Woods was being realistic, as it would take something truly phenomenal for him to prevail and so his curious run at Riviera Country Club will continue. This is his 13th appearance in an event he first played in as a 16-year-old amateur and the best he has managed is one second place. It is the only PGA Tour tournament that he has played on more than five occasions and not won. But the huge crowds were simply content to have two more rounds of him.
England’s Paul Casey shot a 66 to move to six under and into the top 10, while Tommy Fleetwood was on three under following a 69.