'Felt horrific' - Rory McIlroy's honest admission after tough second day at Masters not helped by six-hour round

Rory McIlroy conceded his swing ‘felt horrific’ in the closing stages of his epic battle with Augusta National on day two of the Masters.

And he admitted that was largely down to the time it took to complete his second round, with the Holywood man - alongside Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele - on the course for a mammoth six-hours on Friday.

The trio were the second last group out, teeing off at 1.48pm local time (6.48pm BST). They were shaking hands on the 18th just before 8pm with the light fading fast.

Thankfully, the lights didn’t go out on the 34-year-old’s latest Masters visit, with McIlroy battling hard in the end to make the cut. He had to dig deep over the closing stretch after recording a double bogey on 11 that took him to four over for his round and three shots in the green overall.

Another bogey at 14 didn’t help his cause - his third of the day - and made for a nervous finale, with the cut set at six-over. Despite his difficulties, McIlroy remained calm. Although, he confessed his swing was a huge concern in the end.

When asked about the length of his second round - including the long wait at 11 which ended in him shooting a six - the Ulsterman said: ‘It felt long, yeah. My golf swing felt horrific for the last six or seven holes, just from sitting around. Especially that 11th hole, it felt like it took an hour to play that hole.

‘It was stop and start, hard to get into a rhythm with the conditions and obviously how slow the play was as well.’

More blustery conditions contributed to the slow play, with players taking their time with every shot. In the end, only eight members of the field fired under-par rounds on Friday - including new joint-leader Max Homa, who carded a one-under-par 71 to head the field on six-under alongside Bryson DeChambeau (73) and Scheffler (72).

McIlroy explained every shot was mentally tough. He said: ‘It's a grind because you just have to try to commit as best you can to the shot that you're trying to play. One second you'll have a shot that's playing 150, and then if the wind does something different, the shot could be playing 180. It could be a 30-yard difference.

‘It’s just really hard to. You have to commit to trying to play the right shot, but then you also have to hit it at the right time as well. So pretty tricky.’

McIlroy tees off at 10.55am (3.55pn BST) on Saturday in the company of Columbian Camilo Villegas.