Portrush, Northern Ireland – Rory McIlroy achieved one of his goals at Royal Portrush on Friday. Six years after missing a cut at the 2019 Open Championship in his home country, McIlroy gave him a 2-under 69 card in the second round to give him back-to-back Pallu rounds and, most importantly, tee time over the weekend.
“I didn’t have this opportunity six years ago,” McIlroy said. “So I’m extremely excited about it to play two more days in this vibe in front of these crowds.”
The crowd once again came full force on Friday, cheering, chanting, and trying to climb the leaderboard.
“I feel like I’ve disappointed myself more than disappointed the fans,” McIlroy said of 2019.
The five major winners tried their best to mandate thousands following him on Friday, but his two birdies on the front nine were erased by two sloppy bogeys in the third and fifth holes. McIlroy’s round stalled with six straight pars before final charging. The birdie on the par 5 12th and the birdie on the par 4 14th reached 3 under.
“I definitely feel my game is good enough to run,” McIlroy said. “I was getting a bit closer to the best over the first two days with little bits here and there. I need to control it all and run all the fire on the weekend.”
Despite hitting only two fairways on Thursday, McIlroy was able to shoot on the PAR. On Friday, his tee shot found seven short grasses. This gave me a 50% rate that allowed me to look beautiful in my birdie.
So far, he has earned most of his strokes in approach play (+3.14) and putting (+2.43).
“I don’t know if you’re going to play. This golf (the course) is very strict. It’s visually intimidating from the tee,” McIlroy said. “You can see the bundled nature of the leaderboard. This is one of these places where you know the holes you have to make pars. You know the holes you have to make birdies. Everyone has to play the golf course the same way. Everything is pretty bundled.”
In 2019, McIlroy was unable to play the final two rounds, with Shane Rawry pulling out of the field with 63 on Saturday. The crowd gathered around the Irish people as they waltzed towards his first big victory. This time, this weekend’s Portrush gallery will also have the opportunity to rally around McIlroy.
“It’s incredible to play in front of these fans,” McIlroy said. “I played here in northern Ireland 20 years ago, but in my wild dream I never returned as a Grand Slam champion with the support of the country behind me trying to win an Open Championship.
