Rory McIlroy finds himself just five back of leader Keith Mitchell and four behind fellow countryman Shane Lowry at the halfway mark of the PGA Tour’s Truist Championship at Philadelphia Cricket Club, but the world number two and three-time 2025 winner feels he’s far from firing on all cylinders.
“Yeah, I felt like today was another sort of scrappy one,” he said after his round. “I made what I feel are some uncharacteristic mistakes compared to how I’ve played the majority of the year.
“So just got to try to iron that out over the next couple of days, try to shoot a couple of scores without as many bogeys on the card. If I can do that and just tidy it up a little bit, I feel like I’ll be in a good spot heading into next week.”
Starting on the back nine on day two, McIlroy carded an early bogey that included a wayward drive and a three-putt, but responded to birdie three of the next four holes, sinking a 28-footer on the par-3 14th, and then following with a 17-footer on the par-5 15th. Another miss off the tee on 17 led to a second bogey, but his putter continued to bail him out and he drained another lengthy birdie putt on 18 to make the turn at -2.
A textbook birdie on the first was followed by a very sloppy bogey on the second, and good birdie chances came and went on four and five before he made his sixth birdie of the day on the sixth and managed to battle his way home with three pars as the weather turned particularly nasty.
He now finds himself in a six-way tie for fourth at -7 alongside the likes of Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay, with only Sepp Straka (-10), Lowry (-11) and Mitchell (-12) ahead.
“It’s been a very consistent period for sure,” he said. “Yeah, even when I feel like I haven’t played my best, I find a way. I think that’s when I talk about being a more complete golfer, if one part of my game isn’t on, then I can maybe lean into another part to try to — like so today holing quite a few putts and making my score that way rather than hitting the ball unbelievably well.
“I think that’s been a big key to this consistent run is not having to rely too much on any one aspect of the game.”
Earlier in the week, McIlroy had stated that his strategy was to hit driver on almost every hole, but the change in the weather forced him to adopt a more strategic approach and he felt that the conditions made the course play in a fashion more in keeping with the architect’s designs.
“Yeah, absolutely. It’s a little more strategic,” he said. “Even today, heavier air, rain, a bit of wind. I draw back on a few holes and then I hit driver on a couple.
“It is — I mean, I think there’s a lot of debate about it, but if the golf ball just went a little shorter, this course would be awesome. Not that it isn’t awesome anyway, but right now for the distances we hit it, it’s probably 500 or 600 yards too short.
“Yeah, it would be amazing to be able to play courses like this the way the architect wanted you to play them. So, yeah, like it does, it gives you a better appreciation when you play them in these conditions for sure.”
McIlroy will play alongside Collin Morikawa in the third-to-last grouping on Saturday, getting their rounds underway at 7pm Irish time, with Lowry and Mitchell in the final grouping 20 minutes later.
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