Southampton (United States) (AFP) – Three bogeys in a row and a double bogey on the back nine doomed Rory McIlroy’s hopes of pushing the leaders Friday at the US Open, but he fancies his chances just the same. World number two McIlroy fired a one-over par 71 to finish 36 holes on level par 140, seven behind leader Wyndham Clark entering the weekend at windy Shinnecock Hills.
“If there’s a course where you feel like you still have a chance if you’re seven back going into the weekend like I am, it’s definitely this one,” McIlroy said. Blustery breezes, dense rough, and tricky green speeds make the links-style layout difficult at the best of times and worse when winds gust.
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“When you’re chasing, it’s sort of counterintuitive, but if I can limit my mistakes, I know everyone else in the field is going to make bogeys, so if I can pick off a few birdies here and there, hole a couple more 20-, 25-footers than other guys, that’s really the strategy,” McIlroy said. “You can’t go chasing pins around here. You can’t try to be too aggressive. You still have to play smart, try to keep the ball under the hole, hit it into the middles of the greens, and take your chances when they present themselves.”
The six-time major winner from Northern Ireland birdied the par-five fifth after reaching the green in two and birdied from just inside 15 feet at the eighth, but the back nine brought trouble galore. McIlroy missed the green with his approaches at 10, 11, and 12 to bogey each hole before dropping his approach at 13 just inches from the hole for a tap-in birdie. He followed with a 43-foot birdie putt at 14 but went over the 15th green and then into a bunker on the way to a double bogey.
“Back nine was a bit of a battle. Couldn’t stop getting myself to hit it over the back of the green,” McIlroy said. “One mistake on 15, bad chip shot from over the back, but the wind felt like it was laying down, then it certainly got back up again, around when we made the turn. Still feel like I’m in the tournament and in with a decent chance.”
Erasing errors while rivals stumble is his plan. “Just try to limit the mistakes a little bit over the weekend and feel like I’m playing well enough to pick off a few birdies here and there,” McIlroy said.
McIlroy said he expects greens will continue to get firmer and faster over the weekend but has confidence they will not get out of hand. “The setup has been good,” McIlroy said. “They’ve had to set it up in some ways quite benign because of at least the expected wind yesterday that materialized for some part but not all of the day.
“Less players in the weekend, starting a little bit later, I think you’ll start to see the golf course dry out a little bit and ramp up. But I didn’t really think there was any borderline pins. I thought they’ve done a good job so far over the first couple of days.”
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