[ad_1]
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Rory McIlroy walked to the 17th tee with that triangular hotel looming off in the distance. As media knelt behind a fence made of chicken wire to see what line the No. 2 player in the world would take over the Road Hole Hotel, an eruption took place in the grandstands — Ro-ry! Ro-ry! Ro-ry! — as McIlroy torched a cut right off the edge of the hotel property to set up one of the best shots of Round 2 at the 150th Open Championship.
First, though, we must rewind five hours just after McIlroy teed off. As Game 45 walked down the first fairway, Game 19 walked up the 18th. Tiger Woods was part of the latter, and McIlroy lightly tipped his cap toward his former childhood hero. As Tiger finished off his 9-over missed cut, the crowd made clear what had happened, as if the symbolism wasn’t enough. Whatever faction of the crowd had been holding out hope for Tiger was now wholeheartedly rooting for Rory.
McIlroy didn’t disappoint. After a lackluster 35 on the front nine, he ripped off three straight birdies on the back and eyed the pair of Camerons at the top of the Open leaderboard. A bogey at No. 15 was disappointing, but he rebounded about as well as one can rebound, which leads us back to the 17th hole.
McIlroy’s drive there ended left of the fairway, but he went after a right pin, hit it to 25 feet and rolled in one of just six birdies on the day (out of 156 participants). The hole played to a 4.3 scoring average in Round 2 and ranked as Friday’s toughest hole.
“It came out a touch hotter than I thought it was,” said McIlroy. “So, luckily, I was thinking it was going to land in that bottom section there before the slope, and it landed right into the hill. So, it probably flew, I don’t know, maybe 8 yards longer than I thought it was going to. Thankfully, I had the hill there to stop it.”
It felt like an important moment in the championship. McIlroy…
[ad_2]
Source : cbssports
