Rory McIlroy stood on the 17th tee at 12-under par for the tournament, having made seven birdies already on the day. He was on fire, relying on his new swing change to plot his way around the Yas Links in Abu Dhabi and charge up the leaderboard.
And then disaster struck.
McIlroy found the back-right greenside bunker on the par-3 17th, but it did not appear too troubling. Yet, once McIlroy immersed himself in the trap, he did not realize how little sand sat underneath his ball. The lack of sand caused McIlroy’s clubhead to skip across the bottom of the bunker, leading him to ricochet his second shot across the green and into the backside of another trap. It landed on the downslope of the left greenside bunker—close to the water. He went on to card a triple-bogey six.
“Club bounced on me,” McIlroy said about his trials and tribulations on the 17th.
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“I just sort of made a mess of it.”
At least he bounced back with a birdie on the par-5 18th to card a 5-under 67 for the second consecutive day.
“Good shots into the last and made a birdie there,” McIlroy said.
“So just have to go out [on Saturday] and try to get off to a fast start and get myself back into it.”
Back in January, McIlroy faced a 10-shot deficit to Cameron Young at the halfway point of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic. Then, McIlroy fired a 9-under 63 during the third round, soaring him up the leaderboard and within striking distance. He entered the final round trailing by two and went on to win by one thanks to a final round 2-under 70.
He hopes to replicate that in the Middle East once again this week.
“It will be up to me,” McIlroy said on what he needs to do Saturday.
“I shot 63 on that Saturday in Dubai this year, and I’m going to need something similar, if not lower, seeing what the scores are like to give myself a chance going into Sunday. But I know it’s out there. I was 7-under through 13 holes today. So it is possible.”
McIlroy added that he wants to see the course “get a bit firmer,” which would make things difficult for the leaders and increase their likelihood of falling back to the field. Englishman Paul Waring stands at 19-under and leads by five at the 36-hole mark, having shot an 11-under 61 on Friday. He broke the course record Tommy Fleetwood matched the day before. Fleetwood and three others sit at 14-under.
McIlroy, meanwhile, is at 10-under at the midway point. Even though he faces a stern deficit, the Northern Irishman feels good about his game. He also said he feels a “little bit” more comfortable with the changes he has made.
“With what I’m trying to do in my swing, sometimes I’ll get the clubface a touch open going back, and then it’s hard to square it up from there,” McIlroy said.
“So I sort of struggled a bit in left-to-right winds today, but overall, I think with wanting to go out and perform well and score well, along with still trying to keep some of those feelings that I’ve had in my swing the last few weeks, I think it’s been a good couple of days.”
So far, McIlroy has turned in a solid 35 holes. But the par-3 17th is a significant stain on his scorecard. If only he had a little more sand underneath his golf ball.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
