Eagle joy as Rory McIlroy 'just playing my own tournament' in BMW Championship challenge
Rory McIlroy heads into the BMW Championship closing weekend “just playing my own tournament at this point” following Friday’s 66 that included eagle delight on the 16th but still left him trailing leader Robert MacIntyre by 10 shots.
World number one Scottie Scheffler – McIlroy’s playing partner over the opening rounds at Caves Valley – sits second on nine under ahead of the third round.
McIlroy will open his penultimate round on Saturday at 5.50pm (UK time) alongside Russell Henley with the ambition of “try to play a good weekend and feel a little bit better about my game going into the TOUR Championship”.
Northern Ireland’s McIlroy posted four birdies and a double bogey across Friday’s play, plus the eagle highlight on 16.
“I scored better, but still not great,” said McIlroy of his second round. “It's okay...I played a good back nine and I scored well, made a few saves.
"But I still want to try to hit a few more fairways...still struggling to get the ball in play.
"But when I do get the ball in play, I give myself plenty of chances and make some birdies...that's a positive.
"I just need to try to get the ball in play a little bit more and I did that for a little bit more on the back nine and that was why, obviously, I scored better.”
When asked for his weekend ambitions given MacIntyre’s substantial lead, McIlroy responded: “I think I'm just playing my own tournament at this point...I just want to try to play a good weekend and feel a little bit better about my game going into the TOUR Championship.”
His run of three successive birdies over holes nine, 10 and 11 proved a talking point.
“I got it on the fairway on nine and I didn't hit a great iron shot but got it in there to like 15 feet and made a nice putt...10, I just hit a great fairway bunker shot and hit it stiff there,” he said. “With where the pin was on 11 today, it seemed like it was a better option to get it up around the green and try to get it up-and-down from there.
"Actually hit a good tee shot there just over the green and made a good up-and-down...it was nice, I've birdied both 9 and 10 both days this week, so those holes have been good to me.
"The back nine in general has been good to me...I just need to try to get off to a better start the next couple days.”
McIlroy also reflected on support from the Maryland crowd.
"Yeah, won my first major here just down the road at Congressional (US Open, 2011),” he said. “We've come back here quite a bit and it's been great.
"The crowds out here, even though it is so hot, they're still pretty enthusiastic and great to play in front of...I'm looking forward to that over the weekend as well.”