Rory McIlroy clean card and birdies run helping 'give myself chances' for Irish Open closing weekend at The K Club
A blemish-free scorecard – including back-to-back birdies twice across the back nine – and a large support left Rory McIlroy “looking forward to playing" the Amgen Irish Open closing weekend
His second round of 66 on Friday left McIlroy trailing leader Joakim Lagergren’s 12-under score then Adrien Saddier (11-under) as part of a group third on seven-under at The K Club.
Northern Ireland hero McIlroy posted birdies on the first, fourth, 13th, 14th, 17th and 18th holes to climb the leaderboard cheered on by fans keen to celebrate the Masters champion.
“Amazing,” said McIlroy on the crowd. “The whole day, even just walking to the range for the warm-up today...the support is absolutely incredible. I'm looking forward to playing in that atmosphere for the next couple days as well.”
Discussing his second round, McIlroy felt his form was helping to “give myself chances”.
“I felt like I hit the ball pretty similarly to yesterday, maybe gave myself a few more chances with the approach shots.
“Just didn't make a bogey, which was nice. A couple of good par saves on the back nine and finished well with a couple of birdies.
"Overall, I'm really pleased with the day's work and it keeps me within touching distance going into the weekend.
"Obviously the two boys are a little bit ahead of the rest of the pack, but I feel like I'm close enough, if I do have a good weekend, to chase them down.”
McIlroy added: “I made a good putt for par on the 11th. After not birdieing the 10th hole, I felt like I was 3-under for the tournament at that point and felt like I was playing better than that.
"The two birdies 13 and 14...I had a good shot into 12 and missed that putt.
"I got it going and I hit some good shots coming in.
"I guess in the middle of the back nine, I felt like I should be a few shots better than I was and just sort of stayed patient, knuckled down, hit some good shots and took advantage of it.
"It was nice to make some good iron swings on the way in...the two par-3s, even the 9-iron into 17, that 8 iron into the last.
"So pleased with that.
“The reason is because I'm hitting it on the fairway, which I probably haven't been doing as much over the last couple months.
"If I keep doing that, give myself chances, hopefully it will be a good weekend.”
McIlroy almost enjoyed an albatross finish on the 18th.
His approach to the par-five hole pitched just short before spinning back to leave McIlroy facing an eagle putt at eight feet, which he missed on the way to the birdie finish.
"I was hitting a three-quarter 8-iron,” he said. “I couldn't believe how much it came back, yeah, it looked like it nearly flew into the hole.”
Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin is on five-under.