At Masters midway point, will Rory's record lead after Round 2 equal repeat?
· Yahoo Sports
Defending champion Rory McIlroy is way ahead of schedule halfway through the 90th Masters Tournament, which was supposed to present a stiffer challenge for the field than some previous years.
It has been a difficult first two days ― for everyone except McIlroy.
Visit turconews.click for more information.
The world’s No. 2-ranked player birdied his final four holes, and six of his last seven, to shoot 7-under-par 65 on Friday, the low round of the tournament. Those birdies included a 29-yard chip-in on No. 17.
He’s opened up a six-shot lead, the largest after 36 holes in Masters history. Jordan Spieth, in 2015, and Jack Nicklaus, in 1975, led by five shots.
His 132-round two-day total is two shots off the record set by Spieth in his winning year.
McIlroy’s leading the field in birdies with 15, four more than anyone else.
“I’m going to keep my foot on the gas,” said McIlroy, who is seeking his sixth major championship and 30th PGA Tour win. “I just want to go out and play two good rounds of golf.”
No wonder Fred Couples joked on Thursday that McIlroy “may never lose this thing again.”
The scary part for the rest of the field is that McIlroy said, “I’ve played well, I’ve hit good shots but it hasn’t all been amazing.”
It does seem that way, though, since he opened with 72 in last year’s tournament. Since then, in his past five rounds over Augusta National Golf Club, McIlroy is 22-under par (66-66-73-67-66).
Here’s how far ahead of his pace from last year he is: He’s already exceeded his winning total from last year by a shot. And the 12-under total is three shots better than the Masters record by a defending champ through two rounds.
And by the way, McIlroy is attempting to become just the fourth player to win back-to-back Masters.
In a bid to join Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods in that club, he’s opened up that six-shot over Patrick Reed (69 on Saturday) and Sam Burns (71).
Justin Rose, who has finished second here three times, is tied for fourth place with fellow Englishman Tommy Fleetwood (68 on Friday) and Ireland’s Shane Lowry. Rose and Lowry shot 69s, seven back.
Until Reed made bogey on the 18th hole Friday, he was in line to play today’s final pairing with McIlroy. Instead, Burns took that spot because he finished his round first. The rule in pairings is “first in (after a round), last out (in the next round) if players are tied.
McIlroy and Burns will go off at 2:50 p.m. Rose and Reed will precede them at 2:39.
Burns, the world’s No. 33-ranked player and a five-time winner on the PGA Tour, went practically unnoticed in pre-tournament run-up, mainly because he’d struggled around Augusta National in the past. In four tries, he's missed two cuts and tied for 29th and 46th.
Not so this year. He’s tied for first place in greens hit in regulation through 36 holes (30 of 36). Watch out if the normal strength of his game, putting, comes around. He ranks 66th in putting here through 36 holes with 63 putts.
On Friday, Burns birdied the final two holes, an 8-footer on No. 17 and a 10-footer on No. 18, to cap his round and get into the final pairing.
“It's fun, right?” Burns said. “This is what we work so hard for, and this is what we try to prepare for. So at the end of the day, it's fun. Whatever happens is going to happen, so just go out there and enjoy it and play my best.”
While Burns and Fleetwood have never won a major, Rose, Reed and Lowry have.
“Oh, I mean, after winning in '18, at that point I definitely felt like I have always wanted to put it on a second time,” said Reed, the 2018 Masters champ. “I think the biggest thing really is you always dream as a golfer to go out and try to win the green jacket. As players and as professional golfer you always have to believe in yourself that you can. Until you do, you always have that just little voice of doubt in the back of your mind.”
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Rory McIlroy on verge of more Masters records after Round 2 brilliance