McIlroy moves into contention at Scottish Open with second-round 65
McIlroy ignited a fitful opening round yesterday evening with birdies on all of his final three holes, and he carried the same momentum into his second round, birdieing five of his opening seven holes.
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Where he hit the gas across his opening nine holes – having teed off on 10 – McIlroy spent the rest of his round on the back foot. With drives leaking away from the fairway, McIlroy scrambled admirably to play his back nine in even par, with a birdie on the fifth hole – McIlroy's 14th – undone with a bogey on his penultimate hole.
McIlroy explained his inaccuracy off the tee is partly explained by his desire to be aggressive wherever he can.
'I got off to a flyer' he told Sky Sports, 'conditions were so benign this morning. Then the wind picked up a little on the back nine but it was still very manageable. I started to struggle and hit a couple of wayward drives, but overall it's a really good score and it puts me into the thick of things for the weekend.
'Take the first hole, our 10th, the two boys [playing partners Schauffele and Hovland] hit irons to stay short of the bunker, but if I feel if I hit a good drive I can carry that bunker and get a wedge in. The rough isn't too bad and, honestly, being aggressive off the tee on links courses and taking the bunkers out of play if the rough isn't too bad has always been a pretty good strategy for me. So I am sticking with that for the week. Sometimes it gets you in trouble but it mostly works out quite well.'
Though right in the mix for the weekend, McIlroy has ground to make up on Gotterup, who carded a nine-birdie round of 61, leaving a final putt for the course record short of the hole.
Padraig Harrington is in action in the afternoon wave. You can follow the live leaderboard here.
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