Roller coaster lolly.
That’s the only way to describe Rory McIlroy’s second round of The Players Championship.
please think about it. McIlroy’s first par of the day came on the difficult par-4 seventh hole. Heroic escape from pine straw.
Unlike Thursday’s first round, McIlroy was unable to steady the ship, making three bogeys and three birdies in the first six holes.
McIlroy waltzed around TPC Sawgrass the day before, setting a Players Championship record with 10 birdies. He ended up shooting a 7-under 65, putting him at the top of the leaderboard along with Xander Schauffele and Windham Clark after 18 holes.
Twenty-four hours later, McIlroy finds himself eight strokes behind Clark, who signed for another 65 on Friday.
Meanwhile, the Northern Irishman was hit with another waterball on the back nine and finished with a disappointing 1-over 73.
McIlroy missed an 11-foot birdie on the par-5 11th hole and missed out on the win at 8 under par. He pulled out his driver on the par-4 12th, just 375 yards with water on the left.
Instead of finding his putting surface like he did at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, a familiar mistake reared its ugly head. McIlroy missed the green to the left and sent his tee shot into the water. It was the same play he played on the 18th and 7th holes on Thursday. The latter sparked a minor controversy between Jordan Spieth and Viktor Hovland and became the highlight of the day among golf fans.
A missed tee shot on Friday’s 12th led to another bogey, dropping him to even for the day and 7 under for the championship.
But the roller coaster ride wasn’t over yet.
He came back with a nice birdie on the 13th, but the recessed pin position on the right side of the green made the play more difficult than usual.
So he quickly jumped up to 8 under. But he suffered a setback with a double bogey on the par-4 14th, his second-toughest hole so far this week.
McIlroy found a bunker on the left side of the fairway on the 14th and was forced to lay up to a spot 106 yards out. Then he went haywire from there, sending his third shot 46 feet short of the pin in the back left corner. McIlroy then three-putted for a six.
Two holes later, on the par-5 16th, the Ulsterman again missed his tee shot to the left, wasting an easy chance for birdie.
And for McIlroy easy birdie look I went to the famous Island Green, but I wasted that opportunity as well. He hit a great shot on the 17th, one of the best shots of the day, but he couldn’t make it. The range of emotions felt there became a metaphor for his entire second round.
The four-time major champion is at 6 under after 36 holes and will need to make a big move on Saturday to get back into contention.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.
