UK Open 2022: Rory McIlroy excellent riding, calm mind and fan support to compete at St. Andrews

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – Rory McIlroy walks to his 17th tee with the triangular hotel looming in the distance. As the media knelt behind a chicken wire fence to see where the world No. 2 would take over the Road Hole Hotel, an explosion occurred in the stands – Ro-ry! Rory! Rory! – when McIlroy burned a cutout right on the edge of the hotel to set up one of the best shots of Round 2 at the 150th Open Championship.

First, though, we have to rewind five hours right after McIlroy finishes speaking. When Game 45 went down the first fairway, Game 19 stepped up to day 18. Tiger Woods was part of the latter, and Light McIlroy wearing a cap to his former childhood hero. When Tiger completed his 9-point miss, the crowd made it clear what had happened, as if the symbolism wasn’t enough. Whatever faction in the crowd that had raised hopes for Tiger was now devoted to Rory.

McIlroy did not disappoint. After a faint 35 on the front, nine on the front, he ripped off three straight birdies on the back and looked at the Cameron pair at top of the Open chart. A bogey in 15th place was disappointing, but he bounced back as well as a bouncer, which leads us back to the 17th hole.

McIlroy’s shot there ended up on the left side of the fairway, but he went behind a right peg, hit it 25 feet and finished in one of six birdies of the day (out of 156 participants). The hole averaged 4.3 in Round 2 and ranked as Friday’s hardest hole.

“It got hotter than I thought it would,” McIlroy said. “So fortunately, I was thinking it was going to land on that bottom stretch before the slope, and it landed right down the hill. So it could have flown, I don’t know, maybe longer. I think 8 yards. will come. Thankfully, I had the hill there to stop it.”

It feels like a pivotal moment in the championship. McIlroy delivered a subtle but meaningful punch, and the stands roared. After three seconds had passed, McIlroy didn’t do much better than that, and it was his first birdie on the Road Hole in six tries at the Old Course Open Championships.

“I think so,” McIlroy said when asked if that was the turning point. “I think 16 and 17 was important after bogey on 15 to make a nice save at 16 and then birdie 17, it was a nice little turn in the round. Would be nice if followed that up with a 3 at the end, but that was too big because I didn’t want to do two tricks in a row. That was a big hit on 16. And then followed by 3… I feel I feel like I saved a few pictures there.”

McIlroy split the last man score with 69 to back up his 66 from Thursday. He’s one Cameron Young’s back and two Cameron Smith’s backs after 36 holes. It wasn’t the one-armed 2nd round some hoped Rory would make, but he maintained the pace needed to land himself a shot at the weekend.

The good news for McIlroy is that he hit it much better than the lead, Smith, who hit nearly all of his shots at the event with a smoking hot putter. Whether that is sustainable or not remains to be seen, although he is one of the game’s best hitters. However, this is a difficult level to maintain.

The weekend – like the whole week – feels important, both for McIlroy’s legacy and the golf game itself. Winning any major is important, and winning any Open is a victory, but the 150th Open in St. Which major tournament stands between now and the rest of the PGA Tour-LIV Golf match-up going on for the rest of the year and beyond? It feels almost impossible to understand the consequences.

That’s a lot of weight to pull around, but McIlroy has talked a lot this week about how good his game feels and how calm and how he remains on the court, even in the middle of an Open. chaotic. When he’s been drinking for a week, perhaps that emotion – like Woods’s – will spill over on Sunday if he’s 18th with a bit of his own history in sight.

“I knew I had the game,” McIlroy said on Friday. “That’s all I need. I just need to go out and play my game and play golf for the next two days and that’s all I can do. Cam Smith comes out and shoots two more innings like it was. he did the first two days, I’m going to have a really hard time winning the tournament.

“So I just have to go out and do the best I can and take care of myself, and hopefully that’s good enough.”

This is like Rory’s Open. It’s probably a silly thing to say after Round 2 with so many golf left and so many great players in contention, but Friday looks like a “get rid of my bad round of the week” round. “, meaning the next two days could be special. If the Pit is a harbinger of what is to come, it will be spectacular.

When McIlroy hit a cut into the 18th green, he kept his shot a few more beats. A picture is a picture. Then, Rory followed in Tiger’s footsteps across the Swilican Bridge and reached the 18th green.

The question now is whether McIlroy can follow in Woods’ footsteps in 2000 and 2005 when he tossed two Claret Jugs at this course. McIlroy received a different reception from Woods last time. Excited, yes, but also hopeful about the weekend.

Looks like the crowd is saving something for Sunday.

Rick Gehman joins Mark Immelman for a recap of Friday’s action at the 2022 Open Championship. Follow and listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.