Wayne Riley would have appreciated the shape of Rory McIlroy’s second round: a day that was never tidy, but still gave him a route back into the tournament. After opening with a putting performance that left him 155th out of 156 players in strokes gained putting and three strokes behind the field, McIlroy did enough on Friday to stay relevant. A 67 moved the World No 2 to one under for the week and, more importantly, left him exactly where he needed to be heading into the weekend.
The key was not perfection. It was damage control with a few moments of real quality. On the 414-yard par-four 9th, McIlroy hit a 403-yard drive to within 11 feet of the hole, the kind of shot that reminds everyone why he can still change a tournament quickly even when the broader round is not fully cooperating. He said his plan was to play conservatively, hit it to the top of the hill and take a wedge from there, but added that opportunities sometimes present themselves and you have to take them. That was the theme of the day: selective aggression, not total control.
A better round, but the greens still matter
McIlroy admitted after the round that he is still trying to figure out the greens. He said he had struggled over the previous couple of days, that Friday felt a little better, but that he still did not feel 100% comfortable. He also said he felt he had left a couple out there, which fits the numbers and the eye test. The score improved, but the putting uncertainty did not fully disappear.
That matters because the leader board is already moving fast. Lucas Herbert and Sam Burns posted record-equalling 62s, and McIlroy pointed out that the group above him includes players with limited major-championship weekend experience, aside from Cam Young and Sam Burns. In other words, the opening is there, but so is the need for a strong moving day. Being one under is enough to stay in the conversation; it is not enough to assume the chase will take care of itself.
There is also a broader reason to watch this closely. McIlroy turned to Brad Faxon for help before the second round, and the second-round result suggests that small adjustments are at least keeping him afloat. But he also made clear that trust remains the issue. He said he hit a couple of putts on Thursday that looked good to him but reacted differently than expected, and that can be unnerving. The task now is simple to say and difficult to do: trust what he is seeing, commit to it, and hope the greens become a little more predictable as the week goes on.
For now, the important part is that the tournament is not over for him. McIlroy said the main objective was to be there for the weekend, and he has done that. The next question is whether one under is the start of a charge or just a holding pattern before the leaders stretch away again.
