Rory McIlroy is halfway to a wire-to-wire win at the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club after a four-under 66 gave him a share of the lead with Tom Kim and Jordan Smith at -9.
McIlroy’s opening 65 in the Thursday morning wave set the clubhouse target alongside Bernd Wiesberger, Tom Kim and Patrick Cantlay, with Rasmus Hojgaard joining them later in the day. However, by the time McIlroy made it to the first tee for his second round, he was four behind after Englishman Jordan Smith shot a seven-under 63 to move to -9.
It took the world number two just eight holes to draw level, birdieing the par-5 first with a delicious chip after an unfortunate bounce seen his approach careening over the green.
Further birdies followed on the par-3 fifth and par-5 seventh, and a monstrous 381-yard tee shot left him just a wedge flick and a short putt to move back to the top of the leaderboard.
It wasn’t quite all plain sailing, however, but on the few times he missed a green or left himself a lengthy birdie putt, his short game and putter came to the rescue, but a poor tee shot on the 13th left him blocked behind a tree and only able to pitch sideways. He almost holed his third shot from 125 yards, but it pitched just left of the hole and spun back to eight feet and he missed the par putt.
That was the only blemish on his card, and he made amends immediately by launching a running drive that made it all the way to the back of the green 352 yards away and two-putted for birdie.
He finished with four regulation pars and was satisfied with his day’s work with trickier afternoon conditions.
“Yeah, I thought I played well again,” he said. “You know, the wind definitely got up for us in the afternoon. We got off to a really nice start.
“Then sort of by the turn the wind had got to hits strongest and felt like it was hard to get the ball close to the pins and we were all making a lot of pars out there.
“Yeah, it would have been nice to be a couple better. But you know, it’s obviously another good day and I’m in good position.”
While he leads the field in Strokes Gained: Off The Tee over the 36 holes, his putter was his sharpest weapon in round two and he admitted that he’s got his eye in well on the putting surfaces.
“I like these greens,” he said. “I see the lines pretty well. The reads are quite obvious compared to maybe some other links courses that are a little more subtle. I got my eye in early and held some nice putts and continued that for the rest of the day.”
Tom Kim, a Renaissance course specialist, joined McIlroy and Smith at -9, while Min Woo Lee and Matt Fitzpatrick are a shot behind at -8, and defending champion Chris Gotterup and 2024 winner Bob MacIntyre are in the seven-strong group at -7.
Tom McKibbin was the only other Irishman to make the cut after following his opening 67 with a one-over 71 to lie tied for 49th at +2 alongside Legion XIII teammate and captain Jon Rahm who recovered to shoot a 65 on day two.
Shane Lowry finished bogey-double bogey in round one and that proved costly as a one-under 69 on day two wasn’t enough and he missed the cut by two, while Pádraig Harrington’s 70 saw him finish on +4.
The most surprising weekend absentee is world number one Scottie Scheffler, however. The reigning Open champion shot a two-over 72 to fall back to level-par and, like Lowry, was two shots shy of the cut mark.
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