AUGUSTA, Ga. – Rory McIlroy has turned into a major championship machine. If there’s a major championship, he’ll find his way onto the leaderboard. May not win, but he’ll be in contention.
The key to McIlroy’s round Friday was, well, Thursday’s opening round. After opening the tournament with a nasty double bogey, McIlroy made consecutive birdies to close the first round and get in under par with 71. He followed that with a second-round 69 and is 4 under, one shot behind leaders Jason Dufner and Fred Couples.
“Those two birdies at the end really gave me some momentum going into today,” McIlroy said.
McIlroy, 22, drove the ball beautifully, which setup opportunities to be more aggressive into some of the greens. The result was five birdies, against two bogeys.
“I wouldn’t say I’m in a position to win yet, but we’ll see what happens tomorrow,” McIlroy said. “It will definitely be nice to feel like I’m in a good position going into Sunday.
“I feel like I’ve played solid golf the last two days. Could have been a couple shots better, like probably everyone in the field is thinking.”