McIlroy preaches patience as he prepares to chase Harman at Hoylake
HOYLAKE, ENGLAND - JULY 21: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland plays his shot on the 18th hole during Day Two of The 151st Open at Royal Liverpool Golf Club on July 21, 2023 in Hoylake, England. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)
Rory McIlroy will have to mount the biggest major championship comeback of his career to win The Open at Hoylake and end his nine-year wait for a fifth title.
The Co Down man has come from behind at halfway just once in his four previous major wins.
But while he was tied fifth, two shots behind Carl Pettersson, Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods at Kiawah Island in 2012 before going on to win by eight strokes, he's nine shots behind doughty left-hander Brian Harman after adding a one-under 70 to his opening 71 on another demanding links day.
Harman, who was tied second behind Brooks Koepka in the US Open at Erin Hills in 2017 and tied sixth behind Cameron Smith at St Andrews last year, left the field for dead with the round of the championship yesterday.
He followed four consecutive birdies from the second with a chip in for par at the 12th before rolling in a 15-footer for an eagle three at the last for a bogey-free, six-under 65 to lead on 10-under par.
He is not the kind of player who will strike fear into the hearts of McIlroy or the chasing pack.
But McIlroy knows he will be tough to catch unless he can post something in the sixties today and get himself to at least three-under-par heading into the final round.
"Not getting ahead of yourself, not thinking about what could happen or what should happen or what you're going to drink out of the Claret Jug," McIlroy said when asked his advice for sleeping on a big lead in a major.
"You just have to stay in the present and stay in the moment. Brian is a pretty laid-back unflappable sort of a guy, so I think he'll be okay.
"He's been playing great. He's been doing some good work with (Northern Irishman) Justin Parsons and he's been up there on leaderboards over the last few weeks. He was up there last week, I think, as well.
"I don't know him that much, but obviously I've played a bit with him on Tour, and I think his ball flight and the way he plays the game definitely suits this style of golf."
McIlroy made an eight-footer for a psychologically important birdie at the 18th that allowed him to break the par barrier and head into the weekend in the red.
He picked off birdies at the first and fifth to turn in two-under par and might have done even better had he not lipped out from four-and-a-half feet for birdie at the third or followed a bogey at the 11th with a par miss from four feet at the par-five 15th, where he drove straight into a pot bunker and had to chip out.
"I was a couple under through nine and then gave those shots away on two of the sort of easier holes on the course, 11 and 15," McIlroy said. "But it was nice to at least get one of them back on 18 there.
"It played tough. It played really, really tough. 10-under par is unbelievably impressive out there. We'll see what the weekend holds. But after two days, I'm actually pretty happy with my two days' work.
"I don't think I have to do anything differently (over the weekend). I'm hitting the ball well from tee to green. I've missed a couple of chances on the greens. The wind got me today. It's hard sometimes in two minds whether to play the wind or not to play the wind.
"But that stretch like 12, 13, 14, those greens are quite exposed, and you sort of have to play the wind a little bit."
As for deficit with respect to Harman, he said: "I might be nine back, but I don't think there's going to be a ton of players between me and the lead going into the weekend. Depends what the conditions are tomorrow. Obviously depends what Brian does, as well.
"Right now, it's not quite out of my hands, but at the same time, I think if I can get to three, four, five-under-par tomorrow going into Sunday, I'll have a really good chance."
McIlroy hopes his Scottish Open win in tough conditions last week will benefit him over the next two days with wind and rain forecast.
"I've felt more comfortable in the wind over the last few years, and I feel like I can perform in all sorts of conditions," he said. "Whatever it throws at us over the next couple of days, I feel like I'll be prepared for."
He's certainly a far more rounded player than in 2014.
"Certainly, maybe 10 years ago, a certain style suited my game better, but I feel like I've become pretty adaptable to all conditions we play in," he said.
As for his mindset, he said: "I think more of the same, patience, hitting fairways, hitting greens, making good decisions. If I can do that and have a good attitude towards it all, that's what I expect of myself."
