SOUTHPORT – Rory McIlroy has done enough to make it to the weekend at Royal Birkdale.
He'll have to do much, much more to lift the claret jug.
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The world No. 2 bounced back with a 3-under 67 in the second round at the British Open on Friday, ensuring he'll make the cut with his score of 1-under par overall.
The projected cut is currently at level par.
McIlroy knew he'd left a few shots out there, though, especially when he saw that two other morning starters — Lucas Herbert and Sam Burns — tied the major championship record with rounds of 62 in gorgeous conditions.
“It was a little better today,” McIlroy said, “but still didn’t feel 100% comfortable. Hopefully try to figure that out as the week goes on.”
He might have left it too late.
McIlroy was seven shots off the clubhouse lead held by Herbert, on 8-under par. More relevant might be No. 4-ranked Cameron Young being at 6 under, while players like top-ranked Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau were just starting out their second rounds and already higher on the leaderboard.
McIlroy, who won the Open just down the road in Hoylake in 2014, struggled on the greens in shooting 72 on Thursday and said he still hasn't figured them out.
“I felt like I hit good putts and they did something completely different to what I saw in the read, and I think that’s a little unnerving,” he said.
McIlroy was, however, very happy with his driving. He drove the green on the par-4 ninth hole — for the second straight day — with a 377-yard tee shot that settled 11 feet from the pin, setting up the third of his four birdies on Friday.
Yet, for all his excellence off the tee, he has only made one birdie on the par 5s this week.
McIlroy hopes the conditions allow him to be aggressive off the tee over the weekend.
It might be his only hope of a victory.
“I think any time I can get a driver in my hand, I’m going to try to,” he said. "I just feel like with how I’m feeling with the driver, I think it’s a big advantage if I can get the ball down there and take out some of these fairway bunkers.
“l continue to do that when I can, and then I’m still trying to figure out these greens a little bit.”
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf