Tom McKibbin might’ve gotten off to a nervy start to the tournament, but he booked his passage through to the weekend in style as he rolled home a sliding 18-footer in front of packed galleries to give himself breathing space.
Playing in front of home crowds and with childhood idol Rory McIlroy, this tournament has a major championship feel and not that long ago, McKibbin holed a putt from similar length on the 18th hole at Pinehurst to make the cut on his major championship debut.
The 21-year-old is playing just his second season as a DP World Tour pro, but his two-under 69 was further indication that he is very much the real deal and he’s delighted to have made his second successive cut in the Irish Open.
“Yeah, that was a lovely putt there on the last,” he said afterwards. “Reminded me a little bit of the putt that I held at the U.S. Open, actually. But to shoot an under-par round today, very happy and hopefully continue on for the weekend.”
Whilst he’s no stranger to teeing it up alongside McIlroy, this is the first time he’s done so with an official scorecard in his pocket and having grown up watching McIlroy compete in Irish Opens from the other side of the ropes, it was a dream come true to walk down the fairways alongside him.
“Yeah, it was awesome,” he smiled. “As you said, first time competitively, I’ve been very lucky to play with him a lot sort of casually.
“But yeah, these last two days were pretty cool. I’ve been coming to this tournament since I’ve been nine or ten years old and watching Rory and seeing those crowds, and then get to play in front of them with him was pretty cool. It’s probably definitely the highlight of my year so far.”
It was as close to prime scoring conditions as you’re ever likely to get at Royal County Down, but as the youngster explained, you have to stay vigilant throughout as, even in benign conditions, the course is capable of biting sharply.
“Yeah, definitely,” McKibbin replied when asked if the conditions were a marked improvement on day one. “Not much wind or anything. The only thing that made it hard was the cold this morning. A lot easier today but saying that, the course is so hard that if you’re not quite on, it can really eat you up and punish you big time. So yeah, just happy to be in the clubhouse now.”
At +1, he’s currently tied for 51st with the afternoon wave on the course, but he’s just six off the lead and thinks that, with tougher weather expected over the weekend, being the first player in the clubhouse in red figures on Sunday would give him a chance.
“A couple of good rounds, you can definitely shoot yourself up the leaderboard. If I can maybe try and be the first name to finish the tournament under par, I would be pretty happy.”
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