McIlroy seeks Route 66 to Masters glory
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland plays his stroke from the No. 2 tee 0during Round 2 of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, Friday, November 13, 2020.
Rory McIlroy reckons a brace of weekend 66’s could do the trick after he produced yet another frustrating Jekyll and Hyde performance at Augusta National to keep his Masters and career grand slam dreams on life support.
The Co Down man’s hopes looked less than zero when he returned to complete his first round and did well to limit the damage to a 75—his worst opening round in 12 appearances—to find himself ten strokes behind Dylan Frittelli, Paul Casey and playing partner Dustin Johnson, the world No 1, on three-over.
But with the pressure of expectation released — he claimed that he persuaded himself to release the club during a six-ball range session— he rattled in six birdies in an immaculate 66 to leap from tied 77th to tied 27th in the clubhouse on three-under.
As Graeme McDowell and Shane Lowry were left teetering on the cut mark when play was suspended, McIlroy was just six shots behind Johnson, Justin Thomas, Mexico’s Abraham Ancer and Australia’s Cameron Smith and relieved to have a second bite at the cherry.
“I just felt so good coming here,” McIlroy confessed, revealing he got a “colourful” dressing down from close friend and Augusta member Jimmy Dunne as he grabbed a sandwich and headed for the range before his second round.
“I practised so well for a couple of weeks and practised so well in the practise rounds, and then the 75 sort came of out of nowhere.
“It was ‘where the hell did that come from?’ But I guess I knew (the 66) was in there and I just needed to trust and commit a little bit more.
“I was maybe being a little careful and a little ‘guidey’ with a few shots. So I hit some shots on the range between rounds, just trying to fully release the club and I said just be a little more trusting with it and it was much better this afternoon.”
Asked if he was kicking himself for his disastrous finish to his second round, he said: “Of course, I wast thinking get this ball up and down on play the last few holes in three or four under and I did the exact opposite.
“But I turned it around nicely and shot a good one and at least gave myself a chance going into the weekend.
“The course is playing so soft and different to how it usually plays but hopefully I got my eye in that last 18 holes. I need a couple of days pretty similar to give myself a chance.”
Ancer shot 67, Smith a 68 and Thomas a 69 as Johnson followed an effortless-looking 65 with a 70 to leave them a shot clear of Patrick Cantlay (66), Korea’s Sungjae Im (70) and Jon Rahm (five-under through12 holes) when play was suspended.
McIlroy’s 66 was all such a contrast to the morning, when he lost all confidence in his swing and played that back nine in 39, failing to get up and down from sand at the 10th before making a disastrous six at the par-five 13th after hooking his drive left of Rae’s Creek.
Another tee shot left at the 14th led to another bogey, and after two-putting for a solitary birdie at the par-five 15th, he hooked his tee shot into the pond at the 16th and cried, “that’s so bad, oh my god.”
With a soft Augusta vulnerable to low scoring, England’s Danny Willett (66), Tommy Fleetwood (66) and Justin Rose (70) jumped into a tie for eighth while three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson (70) and four-time major winner Brooks Koepka (69) were lurking just four shots off the lead on five-under.
Mallow amateur James Sugrue (23) racked up four three-putts as he completed an opening 77 but played tremendously in the afternoon, carding the lowest round ever by an Irish amateur in the Masters, a one-under 71, to finish four shots outside the projected cut mark on four-over.
It was two shots better than the 73 Michael Hoey shot in 2002 but not enough to become just the second Irish amateur to make the cut since the great Joe Carr achieved the feat in 1967 and 1968.
He made the turn in two-under 34, mixing bogeys at the fifth and ninth with birdies at the second, third, seventh and eighth.
But after missing a great chance from 10 feet at the 10th, he came up short and spun back into the water at the treacherous 12th, running up his first double-bogey.
He got up and down from the bank of Rae’s Creek for his fifth birdie of the day at the 13th, made par from nine feet at the 15th, then bounced back with a two at the 16th before finishing bogey-par for the most bittersweet 71 of his life.
Shane Lowry bogeyed the first but birdied the second, sixth and eighth to find himself sitting on the projected cut mark at level par alongside Graeme McDowell, who was level for his round through eight holes.
Tiger Woods was tied 22nd on four-under through 10 holes but betting favourite Bryson DeChambeau endured a rollercoaster 12 holes to be one-over par.
The Mad Scientist birdied the second to get to three-under but lost a ball in soft ground at the third and ran up a triple bogey seven before following that with four bogeys and three birdies in his next nine holes.
