Northern Ireland’s Portrush – Rory McIlroy achieved one of his goals on Friday in the Royal Portrait. Six years after his home country’s 2019 open championship layoffs, McIlroy scored under 69 in the second round with a score of 69, putting him back-to-back par and, most importantly, weekend game time.
“I didn’t have this opportunity six years ago,” McIlroy said. “So, I’m very excited about it for two days to play in this atmosphere in front of these crowds.”
On Friday, the crowd went all out again as they cheered, chanted and tried to put McIlroy’s rankings.
McIlroy talked about 2019, and I felt that I was disappointing myself more than I let the fans down. This is a very difficult pill to swallow. This time, I’ve gotten better. I know what it takes to do in such an environment to make myself the best. ”
The five-time major champion went to great lengths to force thousands of titles after Friday, but his two birdies in the top nine were wiped out by two hasty bogeys in the third and fifth holes. McIlroy was in a row with six pars in a row, and then he finished the final charge: birdie in 12 shots, another 14 shots, 14 shots, and 3 shots.
“I think my game is absolutely great enough,” McIlroy said. “I was close to my best in the first two days here and there for a few minutes. I needed to control everything and do all the shots on the weekends to run.”
Despite hitting only two fairways Thursday, McIlroy was able to shoot under par. On Friday, his tee found short grass seven times, which allowed him to watch the birds more cleanly.
So far this week, he has gained most of his strokes on approaches (+3.14) and putters (+2.43).
“I don’t know if you can flow. This golf game [course] Very demanding. It was visually intimidating, McIlroy said. You see the bound nature of the rankings. In these places, you know the holes that have to be made, you know the holes that want to be made for birds, everyone has to play the golf course the same way. Everything became very restrained. ”
McIlroy didn’t play the final two rounds in 2019, while Shane Lowry left the court with 63 points on Saturday. The crowd gathered around the Irish as he stepped towards his first major victory. This weekend, there will also be a chance to gather around McIlroy at Portrush’s gallery.
“It’s incredible to play in front of these fans,” McIlroy said. “That was 20 years ago, I played North Ireland here and never in my wildest dreams, and I thought I would come back as a Grand Slam champion and try to win an open title with the support of a country behind me. I’m so grateful for myself, so lucky, I’m in this position, I’m so excited, and I’m excited on the weekend.”
