AS RORY MCILROY walked off the eighth tee, one fan among thousands turned to his friend and said, “All I want from today is that Rory finishes in the top-10.”
This was when the golf course was dry and bathed in sunshine – the kind of weather that makes it easy to dedicate your desires to the golf. (He may have revised his wish by the time of the cloudburst as McIlroy was finishing his round.)
The fan almost got his wish: a two-under round of 69 left McIlroy heading for the warmth of a clubhouse in a tie for 11th place, five behind leader Brian Harman.
“It was a good day”, reflected McIlroy after his round. “I feel like I maybe could be a couple closer to the lead, but overall in a decent position heading into the weekend.”
He is in a decent position for the weekend but crucially he is here for the weekend, which is a vast improvement on 2019.
“It was a hard pill to swallow, but at the same time, I left myself too much to do”, said McIlroy of 2019.
“I’ve just gotten better. I know what I need to do to get the best out of myself in an environment like that. I’ve been somewhat close to my best over the first two days in little bits here and there. I’m going to need to have it all under control and have it all firing over the weekend to make a run.”
He didn’t have it all firing today but there were a few flares all the same. He opened with a birdie on the first hole but only made par on the par-five second, with his off-the-tee issues persisting: he took a penalty drop having sent his drive miles right.
He bogeyed the third but found the fairway on the treacherous fourth hole, from which he made a bounceback birdie. He failed to make any further ground on the par-five seventh, but he finally began finding some more fairways as he turned from home, making birdie from the short grass on 12 and then again on 14 – the hardest hole on the course – after a 380-yard drive. And while he missed birdie chances on 15 and 17, he played the final hole safely into a howling gale, easily two-putting for par.
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“I don’t know if you can ever flow”, said McIlroy, “This golf course is very demanding. It’s quite visually intimidating off the tee. I think you see like 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.
“If you have one of those out-of-the-blue days 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 hold on
with some of these really tough par-4s.”
McIlroy is seeking an out-of-the-blue day tomorrow but he had the luxury of a day spent largely beneath the blue. Benign conditions meant low scoring, with the 2023 winner Brian Harman stalking his way to the top of the leaderboard with a flawless 65.
Harman doesn’t have the length off the tee to compete at the biggest bomb-and-gouge events in the States, but he is proving suited to the orienteering of links golf.
“I just enjoy the creativity and trying to think your way around”, said Harman. “You’re not forced to hit certain shots. You can kind of do it your own way.”
Brian Harman. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Bryson DeChambeau is the market leader in doing things one’s own way, and yesterday’s seven-over round of 78 – his worst-ever round in a major – suggested his way of doing things is ill-suited on track like this. But in friendlier conditions today, he catapulted himself into the weekend and to the fringes of contention with a stunning 65. Asked how he turned things around so dramatically, he revealed he had changed. . . nothing.
“I played the same as I did yesterday”, said DeChambeau. “That’s links golf for you. I executed pretty much the same shots as I did yesterday. I didn’t feel like I played any different. Today they just kind of went more my way. My wedges were just a fraction better and that was really it. Made a couple more putts.”
The momentum rolled for his playing partner too, as Robert MacIntyre shot 66 to vault himself into the top-five. The Scot is a true contender having finished second at the year’s most recent major, last month’s US Open at Oakmont.
“I’m not going to back away”, said MacIntyre. “It’s completely different to Oakmont. Oakmont, I couldn’t roll the dice. It was never ‘let’s press, let’s press.’ It was always, right, let’s go out here with pars. This week, hopefully come the 69th, 70th hole, I’ve got a chance. If I’ve got a chance, I’m going to roll it.”
Other early movers included Tommy Fleetwood and Ludvig Aberg, who both shot four-under for their rounds to take them to two-under for the tournament.
Tony Finau shot a three-under 68 to climb into the top-10, and has had his challenge helped by pairing up with Irish caddie Colin Byrne.
Elsewhere, Pádraig Harrington missed the cut having carded a second-round 76, finishing at nine-over for the tournament. Playing partner Tom McKibbin also looks unlikely to make the weekend, with his round of 73 taking him to three-over for the tournament, one shot outside of the likely cut line.
While McIlroy needs a run on moving day tomorrow to swing himself firmly into contention, he has paused to consider the bigger picture.
“It was 20 years ago that I played the North of Ireland here, and never in my wildest dreams did I think that I’d be coming back as a grand slam champion with the support of a nation behind me trying to win an Open Championship”, said McIlroy.
“I count myself very grateful and very lucky that I’m in this position, and I’m excited for the weekend.”
As he spoke, Brian Harman was the man to catch. When he won the Claret Jug two years’ ago, the local press were captivated and slightly perturbed by Harman’s love of hunting.
When Harman came to face the press, one journalist asked, “You do know when someone says what did you shoot today, they mean your golf score?”
“I’m a very compartmentalised guy”, he replied. “I’m not thinking about hunting when I’m golfing.”
Tomorrow Harman will be among the hunted, and the crowds will breathe a sigh of relief that McIlroy will be present to join the chase, even if he’s not quite at the forefront of the pack.
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'I need to have it all firing' - Portrush crowds relieved with McIlroy ready for weekend hunt of Harman
AS RORY MCILROY walked off the eighth tee, one fan among thousands turned to his friend and said, “All I want from today is that Rory finishes in the top-10.”
This was when the golf course was dry and bathed in sunshine – the kind of weather that makes it easy to dedicate your desires to the golf. (He may have revised his wish by the time of the cloudburst as McIlroy was finishing his round.)
The fan almost got his wish: a two-under round of 69 left McIlroy heading for the warmth of a clubhouse in a tie for 11th place, five behind leader Brian Harman.
“It was a good day”, reflected McIlroy after his round. “I feel like I maybe could be a couple closer to the lead, but overall in a decent position heading into the weekend.”
He is in a decent position for the weekend but crucially he is here for the weekend, which is a vast improvement on 2019.
“It was a hard pill to swallow, but at the same time, I left myself too much to do”, said McIlroy of 2019.
“I’ve just gotten better. I know what I need to do to get the best out of myself in an environment like that. I’ve been somewhat close to my best over the first two days in little bits here and there. I’m going to need to have it all under control and have it all firing over the weekend to make a run.”
He didn’t have it all firing today but there were a few flares all the same. He opened with a birdie on the first hole but only made par on the par-five second, with his off-the-tee issues persisting: he took a penalty drop having sent his drive miles right.
He bogeyed the third but found the fairway on the treacherous fourth hole, from which he made a bounceback birdie. He failed to make any further ground on the par-five seventh, but he finally began finding some more fairways as he turned from home, making birdie from the short grass on 12 and then again on 14 – the hardest hole on the course – after a 380-yard drive. And while he missed birdie chances on 15 and 17, he played the final hole safely into a howling gale, easily two-putting for par.
“I don’t know if you can ever flow”, said McIlroy, “This golf course is very demanding. It’s quite visually intimidating off the tee. I think you see like 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.
“If you have one of those out-of-the-blue days 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 hold on
with some of these really tough par-4s.”
McIlroy is seeking an out-of-the-blue day tomorrow but he had the luxury of a day spent largely beneath the blue. Benign conditions meant low scoring, with the 2023 winner Brian Harman stalking his way to the top of the leaderboard with a flawless 65.
Harman doesn’t have the length off the tee to compete at the biggest bomb-and-gouge events in the States, but he is proving suited to the orienteering of links golf.
“I just enjoy the creativity and trying to think your way around”, said Harman. “You’re not forced to hit certain shots. You can kind of do it your own way.”
Bryson DeChambeau is the market leader in doing things one’s own way, and yesterday’s seven-over round of 78 – his worst-ever round in a major – suggested his way of doing things is ill-suited on track like this. But in friendlier conditions today, he catapulted himself into the weekend and to the fringes of contention with a stunning 65. Asked how he turned things around so dramatically, he revealed he had changed. . . nothing.
“I played the same as I did yesterday”, said DeChambeau. “That’s links golf for you. I executed pretty much the same shots as I did yesterday. I didn’t feel like I played any different. Today they just kind of went more my way. My wedges were just a fraction better and that was really it. Made a couple more putts.”
The momentum rolled for his playing partner too, as Robert MacIntyre shot 66 to vault himself into the top-five. The Scot is a true contender having finished second at the year’s most recent major, last month’s US Open at Oakmont.
“I’m not going to back away”, said MacIntyre. “It’s completely different to Oakmont. Oakmont, I couldn’t roll the dice. It was never ‘let’s press, let’s press.’ It was always, right, let’s go out here with pars. This week, hopefully come the 69th, 70th hole, I’ve got a chance. If I’ve got a chance, I’m going to roll it.”
Other early movers included Tommy Fleetwood and Ludvig Aberg, who both shot four-under for their rounds to take them to two-under for the tournament.
Tony Finau shot a three-under 68 to climb into the top-10, and has had his challenge helped by pairing up with Irish caddie Colin Byrne.
Elsewhere, Pádraig Harrington missed the cut having carded a second-round 76, finishing at nine-over for the tournament. Playing partner Tom McKibbin also looks unlikely to make the weekend, with his round of 73 taking him to three-over for the tournament, one shot outside of the likely cut line.
While McIlroy needs a run on moving day tomorrow to swing himself firmly into contention, he has paused to consider the bigger picture.
“It was 20 years ago that I played the North of Ireland here, and never in my wildest dreams did I think that I’d be coming back as a grand slam champion with the support of a nation behind me trying to win an Open Championship”, said McIlroy.
“I count myself very grateful and very lucky that I’m in this position, and I’m excited for the weekend.”
As he spoke, Brian Harman was the man to catch. When he won the Claret Jug two years’ ago, the local press were captivated and slightly perturbed by Harman’s love of hunting.
When Harman came to face the press, one journalist asked, “You do know when someone says what did you shoot today, they mean your golf score?”
“I’m a very compartmentalised guy”, he replied. “I’m not thinking about hunting when I’m golfing.”
Tomorrow Harman will be among the hunted, and the crowds will breathe a sigh of relief that McIlroy will be present to join the chase, even if he’s not quite at the forefront of the pack.
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Day Two Golf Rory McIlroy the open 2025