It was more a case of the birthday blues rather than celebrations as Rory McIlroy fought an errant game to shoot a five-over-par 76 second round at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Golf Club, a tournament in which he made his breakthrough win on the PGA Tour some eight years ago and became the only two-time winner of the tournament when lifting the trophy again in 2015.
The Northern Ireland golfer, who turned 29 on Friday, struggled with most facets on his game at various points – he has a new putter in the bag this week – and this manifested itself in a couple of bogeys in the first five holes that saw him slip back to one under for the tournament.
He finally enjoyed some positive impetus on the ninth hole, crushing his drive 376 yards down the ninth fairway, firing his approach to four feet and holing the birdie putt, to partially atone for his earlier misadventures.
But no sooner had he injected momentum than he ran up a double-bogey at the 11th, a wayward drive compounded by missing the green and taking four to get down. He bounced back immediately with a birdie but then pulled his tee shot into the water at the driveable par-four 13th, coughing up another shot in the process to drop to level par.
The cut mark, a dot on the horizon at the start of the round was now a consideration, especially given a freshening breeze. McIlroy stared as his birdie putt on the 15th lipped out as he headed for the notorious ‘Green Mile’, as the closing stretch of holes are known, and the blade didn’t rescue him on the 16th as he watched a seven-foot putt slide by for another bogey; this after he smacked his drive 366 yards but then missed the green. It didn’t get any better at the 17th, another bogey, and slipping to two over for the tournament.
He recovered beautifully from a wild tee shot on the final hole by cutting a short iron from the pine needles to the back fringe and two-putted for his par. McIlroy might reflect that when he won in 2010 he did so from the cut-line after the opening two rounds.
In the end the cut came at three over, a mark that saw all four Irish golfers in action make the cut.
Graeme McDowell battled hard to overcome a disappointing front nine that saw him three over for his round and the tournament at the turn. Having shot a level-par 71 on Thursday, he racked up a double bogey on the third and dropped further shots on the fifth and eighth with just a single birdie to try and offset a misfiring game.
Three birdies in the first five holes – he had another bogey on the 11th – on the way home gave him a little leeway and a bogey on the 17th meant he would have thought a par was required on the last, which he duly managed. In the end it left him with a shot to spare.
Shane Lowry also demonstrated his fighting qualities after an opening 74, with a one-under-par 70, a round that included three birdies and two bogeys.
Waterford’s Séamus Power suffered a calamity at the 18th, his final hole when from the centre of the fairway he pulled his 173-yard second shot approach into the stream to the left of the green from where he tried to extricate his ball. He could only move it three yards and was left with a 49-foot putt for par.
It was a tall order and he had to settle for a bogey, a level-par 71, just good enough to make it to the weekend.
Tiger Woods also demonstrated his fighting qualities when holing a 12-foot birdie putt on the ninth, his final hole, to remove any doubt that he'd be around for the weekend. It was the only occasion he beat regulation figures in his round as once again he struggled with the putter, missing five putts inside eight feet en route to a 73 to go with an opening 71.
Woods, starting on the 10th, bogeyed the 11th and the 14th to turn in two over par, and when he dropped another shot at the long par-three sixth, it looked like he’d miss the cut, especially when he missed a good opportunity to birdie the par-five seventh. He pulled the majority of his putts left of the hole but finally managed some respite when rolling in the birdie effort on the ninth.
