McIlroy learning wind game

John Daly (USA) chips from a bunker onto the 18th green at the end of Friday’s Round 2 of the 2013 BMW Masters presented by SRE Group held at Lake Malaren Golf Club, Shanghai, China. 25th October 2013. Picture: Eoin Clarke/www.golffile.ieRory McIlroy believes he’s getting away from being a fair weather golfer and close to becoming a wind player who can do battle with the best.

A bogey at the 18th for a level par 72 left the world No 6 tied for 12th in the BMW Masters on one under par, seven strokes adrift of runaway leader Luke Guthrie of the United States, who added a 71 to his opening 65 to lead by four shots from a six man posse of European Tour regulars.

McIlroy was two under par after seven holes of his second round but made three bogeys and just one birdie - at the par-five 15th - in his last 11 holes on another tricky day at Lake Malaren in Shanghai.

“Testing day,” McIlroy confessed. “A couple of holes where I didn’t get it up-and-down like I should have and didn’t take advantage of some of the opportunities I gave myself.

“But yeah, I mean, it could have been a few better. But I still haven’t done myself much damage and hopefully the weather clears up a little bit by the weekend and we can start making a few more birdies.”

McIlroy has made double bogeys in 70 percent of his rounds since July. But he has yet to have anything worse than a bogey in 36 holes and believes that’s a sign that his game is close to full recovery.

“Definitely more consistent with my ball-striking, which is a big thing,” said the 24-year old, who is still not firing on all cylinders with his Nike putter, taking 32 putts for the second day running.

“Obviously when you do that, you’re not going to hit as many shots off line or as many destructive shots; you sort of rack up numbers by doing that. That’s been a good thing.

“As I said, I’m giving myself a lot of opportunities and I’m just not taking advantage of them the way I should have.

“Just wasn’t quite efficient enough the first two days in terms of taking advantage of those opportunities that you give yourself. But as I said, I’m not too far away, and a good one tomorrow and see what happens.”

McIlroy has never been a fan of playing in the wind but believes he’s getting better all the time.

“I grew up in it I guess but the last couple of years it’s got progressively better I think,” he said. “I played well at The Honda Classic there, won in the wind there, which is nice. I always felt like my wind game when I play on courses like this is okay.

“When I get to links and you have to sort of keep the ball a bit more on the ground and it’s going to run a bit further, that’s something that would be more of what I would try to improve on. In the wind, the ball hits and stops, anyway. So it’s not like you have to judge when it gets on the ground, as well.”

Shane Lowry was joking on twitter again: “Got given out to in the caddies lounge. Don’t know what I was doing wrong. (Have a look at the signs on the wall)”Just two of Ireland’s five entrants made moves up the leaderboard on day two with Ryder Cup skipper Paul McGinley and world No 72 Shane Lowry carding 71s.

McGinley moved up to 39th on four over with Lowry up 17 spots to 44th on five over in the first event of the European Tour’s four-event Final Series.

Padraig Harrington, who needs a top 22 finish at worst to move close to the top 60 in the Race to Dubai who will qualify for the season ending DP World Tour Championship, shot a second successive 72 but slipped five spots to join 19th on level par.

He must win this week to qualify for next week’s WGC-HSBC Champions at the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai and at 72nd in the Race to Dubai, he needs a big week this week to avoid leaving himself too much work to do in the Turkish Airlines Open in Belek in a fortnight to make the top 60 who qualify for the season-ending extravaganza.

Second in the Race to Dubai, Graeme McDowell is trying to close a €425,573 on Henrik Stenson (74) but is just one stroke ahead of his chief rival in joint 19th with Harrington on level par after a dropping three shots in his last five holes for a 74.

Guthrie bogeyed the last for his 71 and a four shot lead over Ricardo Gonzalez (67), Scott Jamieson (68), Thongchai Jaidee (70), Paul Casey (70), Simon Dyson (70) and Scotland’s Craig Lee, who holed a four iron from 166 yards for an eagle two at the 16th in his 70.

Rory McIlroy believes he’s getting away from being a fairweather golfer and close to becoming a wind player who can do battle with the best.

A bogey at the 18th for a level par 72 left the world No 6 tied for 12th in the BMW Masters on one under par, seven strokes adrift of runaway leader Luke Guthrie of the United States, who added a 71 to his opening 65 to lead by four shots from a six man posse of European Tour regulars.

McIlroy was two under par after seven holes of his second round but made three bogeys and just one birdie - at the par-five 15th - in his last 11 holes on another tricky day at Lake Malaren in Shanghai.

“Testing day,” McIlroy confessed. “A couple of holes where I didn’t get it up-and-down like I should have and didn’t take advantage of some of the opportunities I gave myself. But yeah, I mean, it could have been a few better. But I still haven’t done myself much damage and hopefully the weather clears up a little bit by the weekend and we can start making a few more birdies.”

McIlroy has made double bogeys in 70 percent of his rounds since July. But he has yet to have anything worse than a bogey in 36 holes and believes that’s a sign that his game is close to full recovery.

“Definitely more consistent with my ball-striking, which is a big thing,” said the 24-year old, who is still not firing on all cylinders with his Nike putter, taking 32 putts for the second day running. “Obviously when you do that, you’re not going to hit as many shots off line or as many destructive shots; you sort of rack up numbers by doing that. That’s been a good thing.

“As I said, I’m giving myself a lot of opportunities and I’m just not taking advantage of them the way I should have.

“Just wasn’t quite efficient enough the first two days in terms of taking advantage of those opportunities that you give yourself. But as I said, I’m not too far away, and a good one tomorrow and see what happens.”

McIlroy has never been a fan of playing in the wind but believes he’s getting better all the time.

“I grew up in it I guess but the last couple of years it’s got progressively better I think,” he said. “I played well at The Honda Classic there, won in the wind there, which is nice. I always felt like my wind game when I play on courses like this is okay.  

“When I get to links and you have to sort of keep the ball a bit more on the ground and it’s going to run a bit further, that’s something that would be more of what I would try to improve on. In the wind, the ball hits and stops, anyway. So it’s not like you have to judge when it gets on the ground, as well.”

Just two of Ireland’s five entrants made moves up the leaderboard on day two with Ryder Cup skipper Paul McGinley and world No 72 Shane Lowry carding 71s.

McGinley moved up to 39th on four over with Lowry up 17 spots to 44th on five over in the first event of the European Tour’s four-event Final Series.

Padraig Harrington, who needs a top 22 finish at worst to move close to the top 60 in the Race to Dubai who will qualify for the season ending DP World Tour Championship, shot a second successive 72 but slipped five spots to join 19th on level par.

He must win this week to qualify for next week’s WGC-HSBC Champions at the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai and at 72nd in the Race to Dubai, he needs a big week this week to avoid leaving himself too much work to do in the Turkish Airlines Open in Belek in a fortnight to make the top 60 who qualify for the season-ending extravaganza.

Second in the Race to Dubai, Graeme McDowell is trying to close a €425,573 on Henrik Stenson (74) but is just one stroke ahead of his chief rival in joint 19th with Harrington on level par after a dropping three shots in his last five holes for a 74.

Guthrie bogeyed the last for his 71 and a four shot lead over Ricardo Gonzalez (67), Scott Jamieson (68), Thongchai Jaidee (70), Paul Casey (70), Simon Dyson (70) and Scotland’s Craig Lee, who holed a four iron from 166 yards for an eagle two at the 16th in his 70.