McIlroy through other eyes:
The view from ‘way behind
BETHESDA, Md. – Bearing in mind that Rory McIlroy, who shot 65 in the first round, cooled off to a 66 Friday and took a ridiculous lead through the second round of this U.S. Open, the next most fun – apart from watching him –- was looking at him through the eyes of the other golfers.Like Zach Johnson, former Masters champion, putting the thing in context. “Well,” Johnson was saying, after a 69 left him nine shots behind, “I think his score becomes relevant when you’re talking about the last three or four holes of the tournament. I mean, if I get myself in contention on Sunday, that’s when it becomes relevant, and if it’s a 15-shot lead, then it’s irrelevant. Right now, it’s completely and utterly irrelevant.”
Irrelevant, as in preposterous. McIlroy hadn’t made so much as a bogey through the first round and through 17 holes of the second, but then, like other mere mortals, he crashed to a double bogey-6 at the 18th. That knocked him back to a 5-under-par 66 and an 11-under 131 total. Which is not a U.S. Open score. That’s out of, say, the Wonderland Open any week on the PGA Tour. But this really is the U.S. Open, and this is big, bad Congressional Country Club, a track about as fractious as the halls of government a few miles down the road.
McIlroy littered Congressional with broken records: When he reached 13 under at the 17th, he was the first ever to get to 13 under in a U.S. Open, topping Gil Morgan of 1992 and Tiger Woods of 2000. His 131 is the record for 36 holes, breaking Ricky Barnes’ 132 from 2009. And getting to double-digits under par in 26 holes broke Gil Morgan’s previous record of 39. As the day wound down, and after a weather delay of about 40 minutes, Korea’s Y.E. Yang was the last man on the course who could determine what McIlroy’s halfway lead would be. Yang then finished with a 69 and a 5-under 137, leaving McIlroy tied with Tiger Woods for the record halfway lead, six shots.
“Those records, they’re nice, but they don’t really mean anything until the end of the tournament,” said McIlroy, the Northern Irishman, much too young and inexperienced to be doing this well at age 22. “If I can look back on this tournament with a trophy in my hand, and look back at the records, that would be nice.”
Maybe he developed some protective callouses on his psyche at the Masters, which he was about to win until he blew sky-high over the final nine. He’s got a big, soft cushion this time, but it’s only through two rounds. It’s nowhere near safe. There’s always a raven perched on a golfer’s shoulder. It only flees when someone hands the guy a trophy and a check.
Brandt Snedeker was another of those in what’s passing for contention at this point. “I played fantastic,” Snedeker said after a 1-under 70 and a 2-under 140 total. Which, if it weren’t for McIlroy, would be at least borderline fantastic. But there’s McIlroy, and so Snedeker also is nine behind.
“He’s really not a thought in my mind,” Snedeker said. “I think everybody would agree that he’s got more talent in his pinky than I have in my whole body. If he keeps playing the way he’s playing, we’re all playing for second place. I won’t look at the leaderboard all weekend because there’s no point. Just try to shoot as well as I can and find out how it stacks up on Sunday.”
Steve Stricker, a pre-tournament favorite, scrambled to a 69 and was at 144, 2 over and usually healthy for a U.S. Open. If not for McIlroy, Stricker would be right in the middle of things. “It’s crazy, isn’t it?” Stricker said. “But pretty incredible, what he’s done so far.”
McIlroy revealed his secret for those unable to recognize the obvious. “I’m hitting fairways, I’m hitting greens, I’m holing my share of putts,” he said.
Making his share of eagles, too. After birdies at the 4th and 6th, he holed out a wedge from 114 yards at the par-4 8th. “A little half-shot,” he called it. That put him 10 under. Then he got really serious. He birdied the 14th from six feet, tapped in at the par-5 16th after just missing an eagle from 10 feet, and dropped a 15 –footer at No. 17. This was silly. This was the U.S. Open, and here was a guy 13 under through 35 holes. The ghosts of Opens past weren’t amused. At the 18th, a tough par-4 of 523 yards, McIlroy drove into the left rough, then hooked his second into the water at the green. A penalty drop, a chip and two putts, and he had a six and a 66 for his 11-under 131.
“I don’t really know what to say,” said McIlroy. “It’s been two very, very good days of golf. But I know more than probably anyone else what can happen, so I’ve got to stay focused.”
Never mind the records. McIlroy needs this win to scrape the 2011 Masters off his resume and off his mind. He has only one real challenger. Himself, of course. And at the moment, he wasn’t thinking about it.
“I’m feeling good,” McIlroy said, grinning. “Feeling very good.”
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