Up and down Rory McIlroy curbs back as Fleetwood races ahead on Day 2

New Delhi: Rory McIlroy is fighting the Delhi Golf Club course, a place he hasn’t encountered before, with great deal of conservativeness.  

Birdies are there but the DGC is also handing him bogeys, much to the annoyance of the crowd of 150-odd fans who are chasing him hole to hole, bucking him up and grimacing on his misses.

Perhaps McIlroy (in top pic) must be, within the deep recesses of his heart, also fighting own demons – he was here to showcase his brilliance to the golf fans, instead he has been left to size up the course during the ongoing DP World India Championship.

There was a moment on the 14th where he scored his second consecutive birdie and the crowd roared and he looked back smilingly acknowledging their support. Ben Griffin and Viktor Hovland in his group were doing better, the latter enjoyed a flawless round, but it was Rory to whom were tied the emotions of the fans.

“Three bogeys yesterday, three bogeys today -- if I can keep the bogeys and mistakes off the scorecard -- because I’m making enough birdies, I think I can have a good weekend and get myself closer to the finish,” said Rory McIlroy, the Northern Ireland golfer who has five Majors under his belt.

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Shane Lowry in action on Day 2

After an undramatic first nine, from where he had quiescent returns -- just one-under, he slipped on the 11th and the 12th holes, bogeying both and going to two-under. He had started the day at 3-under.  

“I hit three putted 12th. I was aggressive with my first putt, I was trying to make birdie, and it went just a little bit past, and that hole was cut on quite a slope. So I felt like I hit a good second putt, it just broke more than I thought it was going to,” said McIlroy.

“(On the 11th) I tried to hit a fairway wood out of the bunker, it didn't quite come off, so that wasn't the best of starts. But I clawed my way back and made some birdies coming in, so it was nice to do that and at least give myself a chance going into the weekend.”

McIlroy fired birdies on the 13th, 14th, 16th and the par five 18th which is least difficult if you are able to get you tee shot right.

Tommy Fleetwood carded eight-under for the day

McIlroy’s play was conservative, he didn’t hit the ball high – not using the driver at all. He kept the trajectory of his tee shots low just to ensure he doesn’t hit the jungle on either side.  

He said he won’t be using the driver at all.

“I'll try to take on a little bit more [risk] with the approach shots, but off the tee, it's just hard to be aggressive. No driver. It's just hard to be aggressive. There's no point. I can hit that 2-iron out there a long way, and I can still reach every par 5 by hitting an iron off the tee. I said it at the start of the week, it just doesn't feel like the risk of hitting driver is worth the reward.”

While McIlroy was toiling on the course, eventually carding another 3-under to be Tied-17th, Tommy Fleetwood raced away into sole lead. His eight-under in the morning pushing him to 12-under for two days. It put him one ahead of his groupmate Shane Lowry, the Day 1 leader, who added three-under to his eight-under and be placed second alongside American Brian Harman with 11-under for two days.

Keita Nakajima was in sole fourth place with 10-under, carding three-under on the second day.  

“I wasn't happy with how I hit it towards the end yesterday. I hit some balls afterwards, and I felt like today the swing was in a better place,” said Fleetwood after the end of Round 2.

“I hit it in the fairway a lot today and gave myself some chances with irons. It's easy talking about how many things you did well when you shot 8-under, but a really good round of golf,” added Fleetwood.

Lowry, on the other hand, was happy on finishing well after a slowish start.

Tags : Rory McIlroy, Golf, Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry, Ben Griffin, DP World India Championship