McIlroy admits “that belief can turn into delusion”

Rory McIlroy will get a chance to test his ability to avoid the turning belief into “delusion” when he bids to outgun Scottie Scheffler for the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines this weekend.

The Holywood star, who could go back to world number two with a tie for fifth this week, made seven birdies in a five-under 67 to share fourth place on five-under at halfway.

He’s just three shots behind leader Davis Thompson, who shot 66 to lead by a shot from Scheffler on eight-under.

The world number one headed straight for the range after his round to work on his driving after hitting just five fairways.

But ominously for the rest he hit just five fairways route to make an eagle and three birdies a bogey-free 67 and McIlroy knows he will have to win the bogey-avoidance battle to beat the Texan and win for the third time in his last four starts worldwide.

“Yeah, again it's about picking and choosing your spots to be aggressive,” McIlroy said after a brilliant putting round that featured four birdies in a seven-hole stretch on the front nine and three more at the back nine which also brought two bogeys.

“Sometimes I think I can get overly aggressive with approach shots and that's something where you just have to realise that sometimes par is good on a hole and you move on, but if you hole a 25- or 30-footer, that's a bonus.

“It's more maybe just picking some more conservative targets at times.

“Scottie has proven over the past two or three years that he's definitely the best at that.”

McIlroy hasn’t always found it easy to avoid taking on the spectacular because he knows he can pull off the shots.

But he’s learned that’s a fool’s errand when trying to overtake someone like Scheffler, who has made just two bogeys to his four without having his A game so far this week.

“Yeah, it's a bit of a double edged sword,” McIlroy said of the drawbacks to having confidence in your ability to hit a shot.

“I have a lot of belief in myself but sometimes that belief can turn into delusion depending on the situation.

“Yeah, it is a little bit of that and I feel I can pull off any shot that I want to hit, but over the course of a season, over the course of a tournament, the more conservative strategies definitely pay off.”

Scheffler struggled from the tee and spent time on the range after his round working on his driving.

But he was happy with his ability to grind out a score in less demanding second round conditions.

“I would rather be in the middle of the fairway and putting 10 feet for birdie; you know, that's part of the game,” he said of his ability to still score well despite playing often from deep rough.

“Over the four days of a tournament you're going to have days where you hit it great and days where you don't hit it as well.  

“Today was a day where I didn't hit the ball as well as I would have hoped to, but overall no bogeys, three birdies and an eagle, I mean, I scored really well today.”
Scheffler holed a bunker shot at the sixth, his 15th, for his eagle.

It was a hole also eagled by Seamus Power, who was tied second overnight but bogeyed the 12th, 14th and fifth before hitting a stunning 259-yard approach to six feet at the sixth.

A 73 left Power tied for eighth on two-under, five behind Thompson, who led by one from Scheffler and by two from overnight leader McCarthy, who carded a 70.

Shane Lowry followed bogeys at the 12th and 17th with a closing birdie four for a 73 to share 34th on two-over.

He made the cut with two shots to spare but Justin Rose, Viktor Hovland, Jordan Spieth, Robert MacIntyre and Sepp Straka were amongst those to miss out.