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One of the sweetest sounds in sport is the elongated swoosh that comes as Rory McIlroy’s driver connects with his ball. Really, it is a beautiful thing. You imagine the impact will be a violent clank. Instead it is more like a yogi softly exhaling having found nirvana.
But as McIlroy stepped on the 414-yard par-four 9th on Friday, he was still searching for inner peace. He was plus one for the tournament. The leaderboard was turning a sea of red. And he had substantial ground to make up.
So out came the big dog. The gallery’s mutterings grew louder. McIlroy took a quick look up, and then fired. The first sound was that of his ball compressing and fizzing through the air at 190mph. Then next was the sustained gasps of miracle and wonder as the crowd realised that it had flown 403 yards on to the green – and to within 11 feet of the hole.
“Honestly, my gameplan was to hit it to the top of the hill and hit a wedge on and go from there,” he said. “But sometimes opportunities present themselves and you have to take them.”
Alas, McIlroy was unable to follow his own prescription. An eagle was there for the taking. But his putt was as tentative as his driver had been fearless and he walked off with birdie. It turned out to be McIlroy’s round in microcosm. He drove imperiously. However, his irons were only so-so. And he missed plenty of birdie chances of between 10 and 20 feet. That meant he had to settle for a solid round of 67, three under par, and listen to questions about what might have been – especially with Lucas Herbert and Sam Burns hitting record-equalling 62s.
“The main objective was to be here for the weekend, which I am,” he said. “I felt like I left a couple out there. Then you look at the board and you see a couple of 62s, and you feel like you could have done a bit better.” And despite being well back, at one under going into day three, McIlroy hasn’t discounted his chances. As he pointed out, apart from Cam Young and Burns, there aren’t too many at the top of the leaderboard who are comfortable breathing in the dizzy air of a major championship on moving day.
“There’s a couple of guys up there, this will be sort of their first experience of playing in the lead at a major championship on the weekend,” he said. “Obviously some that are very experienced at it like Cam and like Sam as well. But if I can get off to a decent start tomorrow, be four or five under for the tournament, I’ll be right in it.”
At least McIlroy’s putting was better than on day one, when he ranked 155th out of 156 players in strokes gained, and lost three strokes to the field. But he remains uncomfortable with the quirky challenges of Birkdale’s greens.
Before his second round, he turned to the putting guru Brad Faxon for help. But he admits there is still work to do. “I’m still trying to figure out these greens a little bit,” he said. “I’ve struggled the last couple of days. It was a little better today, but still didn’t feel 100% comfortable. Hopefully I’ll try to figure that out as the week goes on.
“I hit a couple of putts yesterday, and I felt like I hit good putts and they did something completely different to what I saw in the read, and I think that’s a little unnerving. So it’s just a matter of trying to trust and commit to what you’re seeing.
“If they keep putting the pin positions where they’re putting them, they’ll be very difficult. There was a couple out there today that were very tricky.” Still, at least McIlroy left Birkdale in better spirits than his playing partner Matt Fitzpatrick, who seemed at a loss to explain how he had missed the cut having ended up at four over.
“I didn’t really feel like I played that bad,” he said. “I’ve hit three shots today exactly how I wanted them. One is in a bush 30 yards long. One has been on the green for basically 15 seconds and then dropped off, and that cost me a shot. Then I’ve hit one that somehow has gone less than the normal number and now all of a sudden you’re plugged in the face of a bunker. That’s the way links golf is. When it’s this firm, there’s a lot of luck of the bounces and luck of the lies.”
Perhaps that randomness gives McIlroy an opportunity – especially if his driver keeps firing. Up close, you realise that it sounds different to almost all of the golfers at this 154th Open, let alone the rest of us. Now the rest of his game just needs to sing too.
