Rory McIlroy at Irish Open 2015: Friday Leaderboard Score and Twitter Reaction
Following an awful first-round score of 80 at the Irish Open Thursday, Rory McIlroy was far better Friday as he fired an even-par 71 in the second round at Royal County Down Golf Course in Newcastle, Northern Ireland.
Despite the obvious improvements the world's No. 1 player made in the second round, though, he missed the cut set at plus-five after putting himself behind the eight ball Thursday.
Here is a look at the leaderboard at the conclusion of McIlroy's round, courtesy of EuropeanTour.com:
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| T1 | Bernd Wiesberger | -3 | 72 | 67 |
| T1 | Richie Ramsay | -3 | 72 | 67 |
| T1 | Soren Kjeldsen | -3 | 69 | Thru 16 |
| T1 | Chris Wood | -3 | 70 | Thru 15 |
| T5 | Padraig Harrington | -2 | 67 | 73 |
| T5 | Luke Donald | -2 | 70 | 70 |
| T7 | Matt Ford | -1 | 70 | 71 |
| T7 | Tyrrell Hatton | -1 | 73 | Thru 15 |
| T7 | Rafa Cabrera-Bello | -1 | 71 | Thru 12 |
| T7 | Richard McEvoy | -1 | 71 | Thru 11 |
While McIlroy didn't make the cut, he turned in a solid performance Friday that he should be able to build off of moving forward.
As seen in this breakdown of his scorecard, the Northern Irish star managed to avoid the disastrous mistakes that plagued him in the first round until the latter stages of the second round:
| Par | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 35 |
| Score | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 34 |
| Overall | +9 | +9 | +9 | +9 | +9 | +9 | +8 | +8 | +8 | +8 |
| Par | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 36 |
| Score | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 37 |
| Overall | +8 | +8 | +7 | +7 | +7 | +9 | +9 | +9 | +9 | +9 |
It was essentially impossible for McIlroy to do anything other than play better Friday due to how poorly he performed in the opening round. On the heels of shooting an 80, the 26-year-old superstar decided to take a simplified approach, according to ESPN.com: "My goal will be to make some birdies, make my first birdie of the tournament at some point. I'll just have to pick myself up and go out there tomorrow and shoot a good one."
It took him some time to get that elusive birdie as he parred each of the first six holes Friday, but he finally managed to get the job done on the par-three seventh hole, as seen in this video, courtesy of the European Tour on Twitter:
McIlroy followed that up with two more pars to close out the front nine with a modest one-under 34. While that may not jump off of the page as a great score, it was excellent considering how difficult the windy and rainy conditions were on the golfers.
In fact, his 34 was the best front-nine score of the day at the time he made the turn, per the European Tour:
The positive momentum continued on the back nine as well with pars on the 10th and the 11th before his second birdie of the day on the 12th. That moved McIlroy to seven-over for the tournament and put him within two strokes of moving past the cut line.
Just when things were starting to look up, the four-time major champion squandered his opportunity to play into the weekend as he carded a double-bogey six on the par-four 15th.
While McIlroy played poorly Thursday, that marked his first score worse than a bogey in the tournament, according to ESPN.com's Jason Sobel:
The final three holes of the day were a mere formality as his fate was already sealed, but he finished strong with a trio of pars.
Although missing the cut always comes as a surprise due to his status, perhaps it should have been expected considering his recent struggles in the Irish Open.
Despite it being his home tournament, he hasn't enjoyed much success in it over the past few years, per ESPN.com's Bob Harig:
While McIlroy's showing was disappointing overall, he cannot afford to dwell on it as the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington, is coming up on June 18.
His form is far from ideal with a major tournament approaching, and the Golf Channel's Todd Lewis isn't confident he will be able to truly compete for the championship.
Justin Ray of the Golf Channel isn't nearly as concerned, though, since there is recent precedent for a golfer missing a pair of cuts before winning the U.S. Open:
It's difficult not to be at least somewhat worried about McIlroy's confidence considering how poorly he has been playing, but he is a former U.S. Open winner, and players of his caliber have a penchant for rising to the occasion.
McIlroy will have a couple of weeks away from competition to regather himself, and recent history suggests that he will be prepared for the U.S. Open, and he'll be a threat to win it as well.
Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.
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