Rollercoaster Rory.
That’s the solely method to describe Rory McIlroy’s second spherical at The Gamers Championship.
Contemplate this: McIlroy’s first par of the day got here on the difficult par-4 seventh gap, which concerned a heroic escape from the pine straw.
His first six holes featured three bogies and three birdies, as McIlroy couldn’t regular the ship, not like his first spherical on Thursday.
McIlroy waltzed round TPC Sawgrass the day earlier than, setting a Gamers Championship report with 10 birdies. He finally carded a 7-under 65, tying Xander Schauffele and Wyndham Clark atop the leaderboard after 18 holes.
Twenty-four hours later, McIlroy finds himself eight pictures behind Clark, who signed for one more 65 on Friday.
In the meantime, the Northern Irishman shot a disappointing 1-over 73, which featured one other water ball on the again 9.
After lacking an 11-footer for birdie on the par-5 eleventh, a pissed off McIlroy sat at 8-under for the championship. He pulled out the driving force on the par-4 twelfth, which has water down the left aspect and measures solely 375 yards.
As an alternative of discovering the placing floor, like he did finally week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, a well-recognized miss reared its ugly head. McIlroy missed the inexperienced left, pulling his tee shot into the water—much like how he did on the 18th and seventh holes on Thursday. The latter sparked a minor controversy with Jordan Spieth and Viktor Hovland, which was the spotlight of the day amongst golf followers.
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That errant tee shot at 12 on Friday led to a different bogey, which dropped him again to even on the day and 7-under for the championship.
However the rollercoaster experience was not completed.
He bounced again with a pleasant birdie at 13, which performed tougher than typical due to a tucked pin place on the right-hand aspect of the inexperienced.
As such, he shortly jumped again as much as 8-under. However he got here crashing again down with a double bogey on the par-4 14th, the second most tough gap to this point this week.
McIlroy discovered the bunker to the left of the golf green on 14, which compelled him to put as much as a spot 106 yards out. He then made a large number of issues from there, flubbing his third shot to 46 toes wanting the again left pin. McIlroy then three-putted for a six.
Two holes later, on the par-5 sixteenth, the Ulsterman missed left off the tee once more, thus squandering a chance at a simple birdie.
After which, McIlroy had an straightforward birdie look on the well-known island inexperienced however squandered that chance too. He hit a terrific shot into the seventeenth—the most effective of the day—however he couldn’t convert, with the vary of feelings felt there serving as a metaphor for his total second spherical.
The four-time main champion sits at 6-under via 36 holes and might want to make a giant transfer on Saturday to soar again into competition.
Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By way of. Make sure to take a look at @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You possibly can observe him on Twitter @jack_milko as effectively.