Rory McIlroy at Players Championship 2016: Friday Leaderboard Score, Reaction
Despite a pedestrian opening round, Rory McIlroy willed his way into contention at the Players Championship by firing an eight-under 64 during Friday's second round at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedre Beach, Florida.
The Northern Irishman improved upon his first-round 72 drastically and entered the clubhouse in a tie for sixth place, just two strokes behind leaders Jonas Blixt and Alex Cejka.
Here is a look at the leaderboard with full results available at PGATour.com:
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McIlroy began on the back nine Friday and came out firing with a seven-under 29 during his first nine holes. Here is a rundown of the four-time major champion's entire scorecard:
| Par | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 36 |
| Round 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 35 |
| Overall Score | -7 | -8 | -8 | -8 | -8 | -8 | -9 | -9 | -8 | -8 |
| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 36 |
| Round 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 29 |
| Overall Score | -1 | -2 | -3 | -4 | -4 | -5 | -7 | -7 | -7 | -7 |
According to ESPN Stats & Info, McIlroy's performance on the back nine tied a record set by Shane Lowry Thursday:
The 27-year-old star stepped onto the course with purpose on Friday, as he birdied each of his first four holes.
That included this well-struck putt on the par-four 12th:
McIlroy's putter was nearly automatic on the back nine, but as seen in this video of his approach on the par-three 13th courtesy of PGATour.com, his iron play was on point as well:
After carding a score of four-under on his first four holes of the round, McIlroy finally had to settle for a par on the 14th, which prompted a joke from ESPN.com's Jason Sobel:
The birdie drought was short-lived, however, as McIlroy registered yet another on No. 15 to continue his climb up the leaderboard.
Per Justin Ray of GolfChannel.com, McIlroy's start on the greens Friday was in stark contrast to what he accomplished in that regard during the first round:
The best was yet to come for Rory, since the par-five 16th yielded what was arguably the shot of the day at TPC Sawgrass.
As seen in this video, via the PGA Tour's official Twitter account, he drained a 53-foot eagle putt to improve his score to seven-under:
McIlroy could seemingly do no wrong at that point, which led to a fitting tweet courtesy of FoxSports.com's Shane Bacon:
The Northern Irishman finished off the back nine with a pair of pars and also parred hole No. 1 before hopping back on the birdie train.
He took advantage of the par-five second thanks in large part to this spectacular chip, which left him a short putt to card a four:
McIlroy played the next four holes cleanly with a quartet of pars before improving his score to nine-under par on the par-four seventh.
He played the hole nearly to perfection by sticking the approach shot close and finishing with a sure-handed putt just as he had all day previously:
After parring the seventh, McIlroy had a chance to tie the course record of 63 with a par on the par-five ninth or break it with a birdie.
He decided to lay up, though, and his putter went cold for the first time all day, resulting in his only bogey of the round. Even so, McIlroy made a ton of progress and put himself in a great position.
McIlroy entered the day in danger of missing the cut, but after one of the most impressive rounds of his career, he is now a clear threat to win the Players Championship for the first time.
Despite his fantastic showing, though, McIlroy has plenty of work left to do since so many golfers are within a few strokes of the lead.
That includes world No. 1 Jason Day, who tied the course record with a 63 Thursday and had yet to even tee off by the time McIlroy's second round ended.
While McIlroy will be nearly impossible to beat if he maintains the level of play he showed Friday, that seems unlikely considering how big of a disparity there was between his first- and second-round scores.
The course is yielding some extremely low scores, which should allow several golfers to be in contention for the title, and the fact that McIlroy is among them will ensure that there is plenty of intrigue this weekend.
Post-Round Reaction
While McIlroy was fantastic Friday and nearly tied the course record, he couldn't shake the feeling of being upset after the way his round ended, according to Alex Myers of GolfDigest.com: "Disappointment. I'm frustrated. It should have been a couple better. Instead of being two behind the lead, I feel like I should be tied for the lead."
McIlroy's bogey on the ninth hole was the only blemish in an otherwise spectacular round, and he explained his reasoning behind taking a cautious approach, per Myers:
"Any time I went for the ninth green in two here I've either hit the trees in the left or I've hit it sort of out to the right into those grassy mounds that Pete Dye loves. And I've never—it's just—it has never really worked out for me when I went for the green. So I sort of talked myself out of it on the fairway. And I laid up and thought, I'll take my chances from inside a hundred yards from the fairway. And it was a tough, if anything, I might have left myself a little bit too close. It was a tough shot with it being downwind and the pin so tight. I was trying to get really sort of cute with it, I guess, and I just hit it too easy.
"
Despite his disappointment, McIlroy was happy with what he accomplished on the back nine and came to the realization that he put himself in a solid spot at the midway point of the tournament, according to Sky Sports (h/t RTE Sport):
"It was benign, soft greens and the back nine you could not get it any easier, so to take advantage of that was really nice. ... I was going well and it would have been nice to make a four on the last, but 64 is still a great score and hopefully I'm not going to be too far behind going into the weekend. ... I hit a lot of quality shots today. I feel like my game has been under control the last four rounds so hopefully I can continue like that over the weekend.
"
Even though McIlroy's second round could have been slightly better, his current form is good enough to carry him to a victory if he manages to keep it going.
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