SOUTHPORT, England — Rory McIlroy looks to have done enough to make it to the weekend at Royal Birkdale.
He’ll have to do much, much more to lift the claret jug.
The world No. 2 bounced back with a 3-under 67 in the second round at the 154th Open Championship on Friday and moved to - under par on the tournament.
As of 11:20 a.m. ET, the projected cut was at 1-over par — a dozen players sat T-68 set to make the weekend.
McIlroy was seven shots off the clubhouse lead held by Lucas Herbert, on 8-under par, after the Australian’s 62 that matched the record score at a major. Sam Burns also shot a 62 on Friday, while Cameron Young sits T-2 with Jackson Suber two shots back of Herbert.
“The main objective today was to be here for the weekend, which I am. I felt like I left a couple out there,” McIlrory said. “Then you look at the board and you see a couple of 62s, and you feel like you could have done a bit better. ... There’s a couple of guys up there, this will be sort of their first experience of playing in the lead at a major championship on the weekend, and there’s obviously some that are very experienced at it like Cam [Young] and like Sam [Burns] as well.”
McIlroy insisted that if he gets off to a decent start Saturday he would be right in it.
“I think I’ve driven the ball so well the last two days. I think anytime I can get a driver in my hand, I’m going to try to,” he said. “I just feel like with how I’m feeling with the driver, I think it’s a big advantage if I can get the ball down there and take out some of these fairway bunkers. I’ll continue to do that when I can.”
Rory McIlroy in with 67.
— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) July 17, 2026
Most rounds of 67 or better, men's major championship history:
Tiger Woods, 48
Rory McIlroy, 45
Jack Nicklaus, 42
Phil Mickelson, 42
McIlroy, who won the Open just down the road in Hoylake in 2014, struggled on the greens in shooting 72 on Thursday.
“I’m still trying to figure out these greens a little bit,” he told reporters Friday. “I’ve struggled the last couple of days. It was a little better today, but still didn’t feel 100 percent comfortable. Hopefully try to figure that out as the week goes on.”
