With a mere four weeks to go until the end of 2013, Rory McIlroy is currently still in the running for his first win of the year at the Australian Open in Sydney.
McIlroy shot 65 in the second round, closing the gap between him and day one leader Australian Adam Scott.
Scott, who is hoping to win the Australian Triple Crown, after winning the Australian PGA and the Australian Masters earlier this month, broke the course record by three shots with his first round 62, but was marginally less impressive on day two, delivering a 2-under round of 70.
Weather conditions had been predicted to worsen, but the promised wind held off as McIlroy hit nine birdies and two bogeys on the way to his 7-under-par round which left him in second place on the leaderboard at 10-under.
"The weather wasn't as bad as we thought it was going to be and the wind didn't pick up, so I knew we could take advantage of that, and the greens were a little bit softer as well," McIlroy told Golf Magic.
"As 7-unders go, I think it was a pretty comfortable one. I don't think I did anything really spectacular out there.
"It feels good, I played well, putted much better today than I did yesterday too, so that was a big positive. I'm in a great position going into the weekend."
However the weather did start to take its toll when Scott took to the Royal Sydney course later in the day, and the Australian battled to a 2-under-par 70 that included seven birdies, three bogeys and a double-bogey.
"It was a tough afternoon, plenty of good stuff in there but made a few mistakes in the tricky conditions," Scott said.
"At times, it was extremely difficult and I think I held it together pretty well.
"I made lots of birdies but bogeys were easy to come by if you were just slightly off and probably most scorecards would have looked similar this afternoon.
"It was always going to be a day where you just had to hang on. Rory is one of the best players in the world so I'm going to have to bring my best game."
World Cup of Golf winner Jason Day also struggled with the wind, managing a 2-over-par 74, while Australians Richard Green (9-under) and Matthew Jones (8-under) occupy third and fourth place on the leaderboard.
American Kevin Streelman who won his first PGA title at the Tampa Bay Championship in March, had to withdraw from the competition after just four holes after suffering a scratch to his cornea, and is now awaiting advice as to whether he will be able to play in next week’s Nedbank Challenge in South Africa.
0 comments:
Post a Comment