Updated 19:30
RORY MCILROY RECORDED his second successive round of 66 to reach the mid-point of The Open Championship at an imposing -12. America’s Dustin Johnson is his nearest challenger on -8.
McIlroy his supporters a few early jitters before composing himself at The Open. The two-time Major winner bogeyed his first hole to drop back to a share of a lead he had held alone overnight.
McIlroy was seeking to allay any worries that his second round form could scupper another tilt at a Major trophy. Before he teed off at Royal Aberdeen, on Thursday, his second round average was a shade under 74.
He overshot the second green but got back down in two for a par to help settle early nerves. Further pars followed on three and four before he birdied the par five fifth. McIlroy followed that up with a superb iron approach on the par three sixth. He left himself with a six-foot putt for birdie and duly dispatched it.
He parred the next and picked up another shot on the eighth thanks to another nerveless approach and a confident putting stroke. The 25-year-old reached the turn at -8 but was not done yet. He picked up a birdie on the 10th, another par five, to move three shots clear of Francesco Molinari of Italy and Spain’s Sergio Garcia.
The best was yet to come, however, as McIlroy’s impressive iron play came to the fore over the closing holes. Excellent approaches gave him four birdie chances from within 10-feet. He dropped three of the four to sign off for a round of 66 that puts him in with a great chance of claiming his first Claret Jug.
Shane Lowry had a disappointing round of 75 to drop back to -1 while Darren Clarke signed off for a two-round score of level par. Graeme McDowell’s strong back nine looks to have secured him weekend golf but Irish amateur Paul Dunne [+4] and Padraig Harrington [+8] look set to miss out on the weekend’s action.
Antrim golfer Michael Hoey withdrew from the event after seven holes of his second round. Tiger Woods is back on +2 after dropping five shots during a personally torrid afternoon in Hoylake.
– First published at 17:20
Fair play to ya Chris,don’t be afraid to fail , hope Wales go all the way.
They need to scrap that poxy yellow card rule , to many players are missing huge games for silly yellow cards . That ref was trigger happy with his cards , poor Ramsey gonna miss this biggest game of gis life for an accidental handball ,bullshit
Considering the length of this tournament, should have been an amnesty by the semi’s….. Stupid rules….
Crazy that there’s no amnesty.
Yellow Cards in consecutive games should result in a one match ban….. Other than that they shouldn’t count. Very harsh. He was brilliant today…..
Agree Ryan,he should at least be able to appeal it.
Totally agree. No way should you miss a semi or final..carry it forward and maybe make it a 2 game ban for next qualifying tournament? ??-
Belgium : A country that bottles great beer and big tournaments. Fair play to Wales.
England to sign up Colman in £10 million deal.
Emotional Cookie-monster motivates an entire country. Sports people of all grades appreciate the hard work that goes into creating the winning team effort. That was a proud moment for our Celtic comrades!!
Bale vs Ronaldo Semi-final… can’t wait
Team player v me feiner
I really hope they go all the way
Portugal have really rode their luck in their last 2 games and have not been at all impressive…. Wales have every chance….. could they repeat Denmark and Greece as being underdog champions? Either way I fancy them against Portugal.
Amazing amazing achievement by Wales which kind of puts were we are as a football team into perspective. Look at how they beat Belgium- playing football & not in anyway hanging on. We on the other hand seem to have this slight sense of euphoria about the euros yet we literally can’t play football. Still long ball rubbish. The sense is that we are on the right track – we’re not. And the media is still on about how great our fans are. Some joke.
Fair play to Wales. We have vastly improved since the last tournament. no disrespect to Brady but she’s a not Bail.
damn autocorrect. Brady is not Bail
Well england were you watching…??.I rest my case!!
What case is that?