McIlroy looking on the bright side
Rory McIlroy woke up this morning still clinging to the hope he can get back into contention for The Open at St Andrews.
Rory McIlroy woke up this morning still clinging to the hope he can get back into contention for The Open at St Andrews.
But after his crushing second-round 80 – a massive 17 more strokes than he took on Thursday – McIlroy knows he has gone from favourite to long-shot.
The 21-year-old Northern Irishman was one of the biggest casualties of winds gusting to 40mph, going from two ahead of South African Louis Oosthuizen to 11 behind him.
Down in 38th place when the second round – suspended for over an hour yesterday afternoon – was called off for darkness last night,
McIlroy tried his best to look on the bright side.
“If you take Louis and Calc (Mark Calcavecchia is in second spot five back) out of it I’m only five shots out,” he said.
“If the weather is quite calm I feel as if I’ve got a chance to go low, even a little bit of wind. But when it’s wind like this you’re relying on other players to make mistakes.
“It was just very, very difficult out there and I just let it get away from me a little bit.
“I actually did well to par the last three holes, if I’m totally honest. It could have been an 82 or an 83.
“I’m here for the weekend so it’s not all bad, but definitely a complete contrast.
“I don’t think they should have called us off the golf course.
When we got back out there the conditions hadn’t changed, the wind probably got a little bit worse – it probably wasn’t a smart move.
“I’m not trying to make any excuses. Even from then I didn’t hit it well and didn’t put myself in the right places to try and make any birdies or make some sort of a score.
“It’s going to be tough. It all depends what the weather is like again.
“I was starting to get very frustrated, but I’m just going to go back now, have a bit of room service, get some sleep and get ready.”
His round included a four-putt double bogey on the 17th.
It was not the biggest variation between two rounds in The Open, though.
In 1892 Fred Fitzjohn shot 105-83 and in 1966 Robin Davenport 94-72.
They were improvements, but only eight years ago at Muirfield Colin Montgomerie followed a second-round 64 with an 84.
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