Former Ryder Cup captain feels 'golfing gods are shining' on Rory McIlroy after record-breaking Masters start

Six birdies in his last seven holes saw McIlroy post a second round 65 on Friday and move onto 12-under par for the tournament, going six shots clear of Sam Burns and Patrick Reed – nobody has held a bigger lead at this stage of the iconic major.

Having finally completed his Career Grand Slam at the Georgia course 12 months ago – ending an 11-year wait for a fifth major in the process – McIlroy’s newfound freedom has put him in pole position to become just the fourth golfer to successfully defend the Masters title.

McIlroy, who will tee off again at 7:50pm on Saturday evening alongside Burns, has posted 15 birdies to date and said “I guess my mindset is just trying to keep playing well and keeping my foot on the gas”.

McGinley captained a European Ryder Cup team, which included McIlroy, to glory over the United States at Gleneagles in 2014, and has been mightily impressed by how the Holywood native has handled himself both on and off the course this week.

"Who is to know that the Rory McIlroy plateau was being a Grand Slam winner, who made that rule?” said McGinley on Golf Channel. “That’s what he has thrown away, he has that said ‘that’s not my plateau, I’ve got another mountain to climb’.

"That’s the key more than anything else of the greats, there’s always another level that inspires them and gets them excited to go out.

"The old saying, a great line, is ‘it’s hard to get out of bed wearing silk pyjamas’, but when you scale such great, great heights, you’ve got yourself a Grand Slam, to come out again and be refreshed and inspired, embrace all the obligations the way he has done with a smile.

"There’s never be an ‘oh no, I have to do this’ – he has enjoyed every moment of it and to take that and move forward...the three previous winners who have defended around here, Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods, very, very different personalities.

"They’re very focused personalities that went out and defended in a stoic way, Rory has done it in a different way, he’s a different personality to any of those three.

"That’s why it’s somewhat surprising to me that he has been able to embrace all of that and still come out here with the focus, inspirational play that we have seen.

"There’s no doubt the golfing gods are shining on him, the first two days a lot of good things have happened to Rory – as badly as he has driven it, he always seems to have a shot to hack it out and work his way around there.

"He gets on that roll, there’s nobody better in the game when he gets on that roll, momentum is behind him, the wind is in their sails, there’s nobody better at riding that wave like a surfer than Rory McIlroy.”