Friday at Augusta would be one of the most memorable days in years as Rory McIlroy shot the low round to rocket himself back into contention.
Seeking the career Grand Slam the four-time Major winner came home in just 31 shots to take advantage of the best of a gusty day.
Elsewhere, two Masters legends would just miss out on the weekend while Bryson is again sitting pretty in the big ones.
Rory McIlroy is right back in the mix
The doom and gloom of Rory McIlroy’s pair of double-bogeys evaporated around the turn as the four-time Major champion picked up four brilliant shots at Amen Corner. McIlroy was one under after nine but then stiffed approaches to 10 and 11 before making an eagle off the pine straw at 13.
“It was like 189 front so I don’t think it was really a decision to go for it or not, but I was between a 4- and a 5-iron. And usually, the ball comes out of it spinnier out of the pine straw. So I hit a 4-iron, and the follow-through definitely saved it, and I was glad that I hit a 4-iron. I covered that little corner there.
“But when the ball was in the air, I was like, you idiot, what did you do? It’s one of those ones, as well, it’s a pin that even if you do hit it into the hazard, it’s not a routine up-and-down. I rode my luck a little bit with that second shot, but was nice to take advantage of it.”
The scene of Thursday’s initial disaster came at the 15th and here he would record a two-putt birdie and an element of good fortune and clutch putting saw him finish with a 66, a six-under total and right back in it.
Thursday finished with McIlroy getting away from the property as quickly as possible, and Friday saw him in the media centre.
“I feel like I just did a good job of resetting. I had a good conversation with Bob Rotella this morning, mostly around not pushing too hard too early and trying to get those shots back straightaway. And you can sort of see how I started with eight pars and a birdie on the front nine. I just tried to stay really, really patient. I feel like that patience was rewarded with a nice little stretch there in the middle of the round.”
Justin Rose still sitting pretty
Justin Rose consolidated his opening 65 with a 71 to go into the weekend at the top of the leaderboard. The Englishman had four birdies, including a pair of 2s on the back nine, and it was then a case of switching off to get ready for the weekend.
“I’m going to go talk to the team, see what we think we should do. Obviously, energy management is key, as well, going into a big weekend. There are maybe a couple of things I’d like to work on, get out in the short-game area a little bit more and cement a couple of the feels I’ve been working on. The strike on the irons was a tiny bit off today. Have a discussion on that or work on that for a short amount of time.
“But I won’t watch every round. I feel I’ve done that before, and I think that’s as emotionally draining as being out there practising all afternoon, to be honest with you. I’ve got the family here, which is nice, my mum, my wife. So I don’t know what we’ll do but I won’t be sweating it.”
Bryson DeChambeau might have found something
A feature of this week has been the amount of balls that Bryson DeChambeau has been hitting on the range. On Tuesday he hit 393 shots after his round and he’s barely stopped since.
He now sits on seven-under, one back of Rose, and he revealed in a lengthy post-round press conference how he found something early in his second round that helped to get him going.
“I found it on 5 on the tee shot. I hit a pull on 4 into the left bunker and holed out, which is an unbelievable bonus. On the 5th hole, I said to myself, I’ve got to feel something that’s a little different. And lo and behold, I think I just started to integrate more of an up-and-down motion. And that just felt more comfortable to me, and I started doing it, and it got more comfortable till the 9th hole. I hit my best drive I hit all week on 9. It was a perfect shot shape, exactly the way I saw it in my head, exactly what I practised on the range. I was like, there it is.”
As for how many swing thoughts will go through the US Open’s head in the course of the week?
“If I’m really trying to find my golf swing, I can go through 100 pretty easily. I’m telling you, like 15 to 20 on a range session, easily. Maybe more sometimes, if I’m really trying to find something. I’ve got a lot going on up in there. You wouldn’t want to be in there (chuckles).”
Fred Couples narrowly misses out
Fred Couples came to the 18th needing a birdie to make a very unlikely cut but it wasn’t to be. Unfortunately, he would wipe across his drive and then narrowly miss his 10-foot par putt but he’ll be back next year for more of the same.
In fact, the 65-year-old will be back on the property at the weekend.
“I’m playing next year for sure, yeah. They made that clear they wanted me to come back so I’m coming back next year. Again, as soon as I get in that car and drive out of Magnolia Lane and come back on Saturday and have a nice lunch, I’ll be fine. Unfortunately, I’m going to come out and watch a little bit, I don’t know who I’m going to watch.
“The goal is to make the cut at my age. I didn’t, and I’m kind of spinning my wheels thinking just why it was so mediocre. Oh, my God – the shot on 15, I don’t even know what happened. The wind was blowing as hard as it was blowing all day and I think I just kind of leaned into it and I barely made contact with the ball.”
Bernhard Langer battles all the way
Bernhard Langer’s time at Augusta is finally done – and it came down to the final putt.
The German, playing in his 41st Masters, was travelling very nicely at level par with a wedge in his hands at the 15th but that came up short and wet and he was unable to get up and down from beside the 18th and three-over would prove one shot too much.
There would be applause on to every tee and green and the two-time champion hit another collection of woods and hybrids – he would hit driver-driver at the 11th – but he would call time after a second-round 73.
“It was a very special last two days for me, even starting off walking to the first tee yesterday, I got a standing ovation and the people really, you know, applauded. I almost teared up and almost started crying right there, and I said, Come on, get it together, you’ve got some golf to play.
“It kind of kept going. There were lots of standing ovations throughout the golf course in various spots. Today coming up 18 was mixed emotions because I was still inside the cut line, and even when I made bogey, I wasn’t sure I was totally out of there or not because I actually thought 3-over would make the cut.
“I had my son on the bag, as well. Our youngest son, we won the PNC Father/Son tournament four times together, and when I said this is going to be my last Masters, I asked him if he would caddie for me, and he immediately said yes. That was, you know, another bonus.”
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