Rory McIlroy hasn’t always enjoyed windy conditions but it’s a sign of how much he’s matured that he’s looking forward to getting creative in 30mph gusts as he bids for his second Players Championship win this weekend.
After confessing to riding his luck at times en route to an opening 67, the world number two was far more impressive as he carded a four-under 68 to go into the last two rounds just two shots behind clubhouse leaders Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia.
He hit just four fairways on Thursday but missed just three yesterday and showed his liking for the back nine when he raced to the turn in five-under 31 to take the lead.
He birdied every second hole from the moment he chipped in for an opening birdie at the 10th. But after taking his back nine tally to 56-under since 2013, he was not too downcast as he came home in one-over to be seven-over for the opening stretch over the same period.
“Much better,” he said of his performance from the tee, despite following a birdie at the second (his 11th) with bogeys at the sixth and ninth coming home. “I think I hit more fairways in six holes today than I did in 18 yesterday. I couldn’t quite continue that on to the back nine but it was much better off the tee.”
Young guns Lee (26) and Bhatia (23) shot 66 to lead by a shot on 11-under from JJ Spaun with McIlroy lurking a shot further back alongside the highly-fancied Collin Morikawa, who shot 65.
But even with the wind forecast to gust to 30mph this weekend, McIlroy is looking forward to trying to win at TPC Sawgrass for the second time since 2019 and to continuing to display the competitive longevity that impresses peers like world number one Scottie Scheffler.
“It’s very impressive, not only his week-to-week but his longevity year after year,” Scheffler said after admitting to frustration on the greens as he carded a 70 to trail the leaders by six shots and McIlroy by four.
“The guy’s won, I think they said 27 times this morning on the first tee on Tour, and he’s doing a few things right to be putting up those kind of numbers.”
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A rusty world number three Xander Schauffele posted a 71 to sit on the projected cut line and McIlroy admitted he was proud that he’s managed to take on all comers since he first went to world number one in 2012, when Scheffler was a few months shy of his 16th birthday.
“I think the fact that the battles I’ve had for that number one spot in the world, whether it be with Luke Donald and Lee Westwood back in the day, all the way up to Xander and Scottie now and sort of everyone in between, it’s nice that the common denominator sometimes is me, that I’ve been able to stay there,” McIlroy said. “Yeah, I’m super proud of that.”
His determination to improve is also worthy of admiration.
“Just trying to control my ball flight, trying to hit different shots, trying to play with some creativity is something that I think I’ve gotten a lot better at over the last few years,” he said of what excites him about the weekend forecast.
Scheffler looked frequently frustrated, especially on the greens, but after shrugging off a neck injury to retain the title last year, he can’t be ruled out for an unprecedented hat-trick.
Meanwhile, Tom McKibbin opened with a three-over 74 to trail Dustin Johnson by 11 shots at LIV Singapore.
Johnson fired a bogey-free, eight-under 63 to lead by three shots from Sebastian Muñoz with McKibbin tied for 46th and Graeme McDowell 53rd in the 54-man field after a 78
On the LET, Lauren Walsh was five shots off the lead after opening with a one-under 69 in the Australian Women’s Classic at Coffs Harbour.
She was tied for 18th behind Welsh rookie Darcey Harry, Sweden’s Moa Folke and Austria’s Emma Spitz after they opened with six-under 64s.
Elm Park’s Anna Foster and Castlerock’s Annabel Wilson played together and also rallied near the end to card one-over 71s and share 42nd.