Steely Mcilroy recovers after shaky start
Northern Irishman shows grit to stay in US Open contention Morikawa shrugs off his swing concerns to chase third major
So much for Rory Mcilroy being unable to grind, so much for the Northern Irishman fading away when the going gets tough.
Here at the 122nd US Open, he was locked in a battle with the Country Club, as well as a giddying mixture of the world’s best young players, and he was standing up mightily to the task.
Mcilroy finished four under, one behind Collin Morikawa, and after where he had earlier found himself on the third hole, that was an impressive feat, indeed.
Mcilroy, 33, hit his approach to the par four into the tall fescue on the right of a greenside bunker and with two swipes managed to move it roughly three yards.
He could barely see his ball and was playing his fifth shot. A triplebogey seven was surely the most for which he could hope. But Mcilroy chopped it out to 25 feet and rolled in the putt to limit the damage to a double-bogey six.
There was none of the temper tantrums he had displayed in his opening 67, just a steely look of intent in his mission to win his fifth major after an eight-year gap.
Mcilroy was fortunate in the sense that he was out in the easier conditions of the afternoon, when the gusts dipped markedly.
Except his ball-striking, particularly off the tee, was nowhere near its best.
It is a widely shared opinion that when he is misfiring, the fire goes out in his belly.
Not this time, negating bogeys on the sixth and 10th with birdies on the fifth, eighth, 12th, 14th and the 17th. And with Morikawa, the twotime major winner, shooting a 66, Mcilroy was producing when he simply had to.
Morikawa is a curious one. He arrived here saying that he was in a state with his swing and could no longer hit his trademark baby cut off the tee.
And, for reasons which he could not explain, he was now drawing the ball. Yet here he was, tearing
through such a demanding test, with five birdies and just the one bogey. It is remarkable to think that this is only the 25-year-old’s 12th major and he is in position to make it a hat-trick.
As the enthralling second day’s action was drawing to a close, Morikawa was a shot clear of Mcilroy, fellow Americans Hayden Buckley, who fired a 68, Joel Dahmen, who was one under with six left, and Spain’s Jon Rahm. The defending champion’s 67 was, in its own way, just as ominous as Morikawa’s effort, featuring an eagle, three birdies and two bogeys.
Rahm’s second from 272 yards on the 14th to set up a three on the par five was an indication of his quality and his presence on the leaderboard only increases the suspicion that this could be a gripping weekend.
World No1 Scottie Scheffler is also in contention on three under after a fine 67 compiled in the capricious winds of the morning.
The Masters champion played the last eight holes in four under, holing a six-footer on the 13th, chipping in for an eagle on the 14th and converting a 10-footer on the 16th.
The unassuming Texan is handily poised, ready to creep into the spotlight. “I feel like I’m kind of an under-the-radar person,” Scheffler, 25, said. “There’s not much chatter going around with me. I’ve been No1 in the world for a while now, and it doesn’t really feel like it, so I kind of like being just under the radar. I can show up and do my thing, and then go home and rest.”
Scheffler’s countryman Nick Hardy joined him on three under
after a 68, with another young American in Sam Burns (67) on two under alongside Matt Fitzpatrick one back. The Englishman, who won the 2013 US Amateur on this course, was pleased with his ballstriking and his new-found length that saw him, on occasion, outdriving playing partner Dustin Johnson (on one over after a 73).
“I played really, really well,” he said. “Three of my four bogeys were three-putts, so that kind of sums up the day.
“I left a few out there and that’s a rare thing to say at a US Open. It’s anything but easy out there.” MJ Daffue would testify to that.
The South African, ranked 296th in the world, marched three shots ahead when going out in 32.
But he dropped five shots coming in for a 72 that yanked the rank outsider back to one under.