Rory McIlroy: 'I feel like I could be a couple closer to the lead'
'Another solid day,' he said after a 69 to add to his opening 70 for a three-under total. 'A couple under, improved a little bit on yesterday, hit it in play a little bit more off the tee, which was nice to have some looks out of the fairway and into some of these greens.
'Yeah, it was a good day. I feel like I maybe could be a couple closer to the lead, but overall in a decent position heading into the weekend.'
McIlroy described himself as 'excited for the opportunity' and grateful to play two more rounds and challenge for a title he won back in 2014 and on a course where, 20 years ago, he played as a teenager in the North of Ireland tournament.
His driving was better than on Thursday – it could hardly have been worse – and there were flashes of his magic. The birdie on the brutally tough par-four fourth was exceptional golf, for instance, so there is game there to work with even if he never caught fire.
'I don't know if you can ever flow, this golf course is very demanding,' he said after posting four birdies and two bogeys. 'It's quite visually intimidating off the tee. You see the bunched nature of the leaderboard.
'It's one of these places where you know the holes you have to make par, you know the holes you have to make birdie, and everyone sort of has to play the golf course the same way. Everything becomes pretty bunched.
Yeah, you can, if you have one of those out-of-the-blue days and you can get it going, but for the most part, you're just trying to pick off your birdies on the easy holes and honestly like hold on with some of these really tough par-fours.'
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The 42
3 hours ago
- The 42
Scheffler's masterpiece gives the Portrush crowds what they expected rather than what they wanted
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He won by four shots in the end, clear of Harris English, and gained almost two-and-a-half strokes with his putting alone. Scheffler admitted in his victory speech he was not the crowd favourite this week, but you were surprised he thought to mention it, given how impervious he appeared to it all week. Five hours earlier, McIlroy bounded down the first fairway to his customary fervour, with Scheffler following 10 minutes later. Rory found the fairway, and then Scottie found the first cut of rough. Though Rory could only make par, the crowds around him were looking at Scheffler's spot and conjuring up all manner of unconvincing hope. Advertisement Scheffler then banished it all by leaving his second shot a foot from the hole. He then birdied four and five, but didn't even have the decency to slam the door. Instead he grabbed the handle and occasionally creaked it ajar, less in invitation than in taunt. After he birdied the par-four fifth looking out at the coastal cliffs, Scheffler turned his back on the water and suddenly looked unsteady. He missed the green on the par-three sixth and then took a scenic route to the green on the par-five seventh, and yet he saved par twice with nerveless, 15-foot putts. He finally made a concession to the field on the eighth hole, taking two swipes to make it out of the bunker and finally missing a putt to make double-bogey, his first dropped shots since he played the 11th hole on Friday. A shout of Yessss was heard from the crowd as Scheffler's putt drifted by, and certainly some of the the galleries' ardour for McIlroy spun off to a coolness-come-hostility to the leader. McIlroy, though, quickly vacated himself from contention by taking his own double-bogey on 10. Instead the challenge was led by Chris Gotterup, fresh from winning last week's Scottish Open, who went out in three-under and got to within four of Scheffler. Wyndham Clark meanwhile made a charge, blasting his way to alongside Gotterup at 11-under. But they all needed Scheffler to capsize which was simply never going to happen. There has never been a better golfer at bouncing back from a dropped shot, and sure enough, Scheffler responded to his double with a birdie on the very next hole. Another birdie on the par-five 12th wiped the double clear. McIlroy continued his toil, picking up a shot on 12 but seeing a short putt for birdie on 14 slide by the hole. He picked up one final shot on 15, but Rory would provide no hometown lore. He played well for most of the four days, but Scheffler was simply far too good to handle. Rory McIlroy waves to the crowds for one last time. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo And while we recognise and celebrate sporting excellence, we are not always enthralled by it. In fact, the excellent aim to drain their art of all that might excite. 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The 42
3 hours ago
- The 42
'I've gotten everything I wanted out of this week apart from a Claret Jug'
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Irish Daily Mirror
4 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Rory McIlroy strikes it rich despite Portrush Open heartbreak
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