TPC River Highlands, CT ….
Rory McIlroy was heading straight to the practice range after a patience-testing 69 on day two of the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut.
McIlroy managed just two birdies and after battling for the better part of his round he dropped a shot near the end to be headed to the clubhouse sharing fourth place at seven-under on the TPC River Highlands course.
However at day’s end McIlroy slipped to a share of eighth place and three shots behind American Brian Harman (64 & 66) who heads the field by a shot at 10-under par.
Three players – the Americans Zach Johnson (68) and Russell Hendly (65) and Aussie Matt Jones (66) – share second place on nine-under par/
Cheltenhan-born and now Phoexix-based Paul Casey birdied three holes in a row near the end of his round of 65 to be sharing fourth place on eight-under.
A pink-shirted McIlroy had a number of opportunities over his outward half only to be seeing red in sandwiching a sixth hole birdie in between eight pars.
Rory McIlroy on day two of the 2018 Travelers Championship
The World No. 7 moved to eight-under with a birdie at his 11th and then after a run of four pars, including a great eight-foot save on 15, he then three-whacked his 16th.
Then at the last McIlroy leaned over in disbelief and grabbing the back of his ankles when his nine-foot birdie lipped-out.
“I was patient out there today and could have easily got frustrated given I was not playing quite as well as I did yesterday,” he said.
“So, I stayed patient with it as mentally I felt pretty good and you need to do that when you don’t have your best stuff.
“I just need to now go and do a bit of work on the range and I feel as though I should be ready for the weekend.
“With what I am working on with my swing, I am just not 100% comfortable as I am thinking a lot about what I am doing.
“It will probably be a few weeks to where I want it to be but it’s good there is good signs in there and I will keep working on it.”
In contrast to McIlroy’s round, Seamus Power continues to boost his goal of locking-in his Tour card for next year with a three-under par 67.
The effort lifted the West Waterford golfer some 50 places and into a then share of 26th place on three-under.
And defending champ, Jordan Spieth posted a triple-bogey ‘8’ in sending his drive OB at his fourth on route to 73 and 10 more than his joint round-one leading 63.
Padraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell were out in the afternoon half of the draw in the $US 7m event.
