Rory McIlroy was singing the praise of a ‘new’ driver after being projected to head to his defence of next week’s Tour finale as No. 1 on the FedEx Cup standings in muscling his way to a share of the lead on day two of the BMW Championship in Chicago.
McIlroy seemingly has finally found his pre-Coronavirus lockdown form posting a hard-fought one-under 69 for a one-under tally in continuing heatwave conditions on the Olympia Fields course.
And helping lift his spirits enormously was the work he undertook earlier in the week to find a more user-friendly driver even though McIlroy managed to hit just six of 14 fairways on day two of the event.
Yes, there was still visible frustration in missing a handful of birdie and also par putts but in the bigger picture McIlroy heads to the weekend rounds of the penultimate event of the 2019/20 a long overdue genuine threat to his rivals.
One of two players under par @BMWChamps. 💪@McIlroyRory currently leads the field in SG: Off-the-Tee and SG: Tee-to-Green. pic.twitter.com/yABWvWrYJ7
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 28, 2020
Those rivals include fellow late round two leader American Patrick Cantlay (68) and with first round leader, Hideki Matsuyama of Japan at even par very late in the round
World and FedEx No. 1 Dustin Johnson was one of those finding it tougher than last week’s birdie feast at TPC Boston to be just inside the top-20 at one-over in total early over his inward nine.
The news is not good for Tiger Woods followers with the 15-time Major winner set to head to day three well down the board and near 50th place, and needing to be top-4 or better to be heading next week to Atlanta.
In contrast, the four-time Major winner McIlroy, looking still for a first taste of success in 2020, continued his fondness for Olympia Fields located south of the Windy City.
Once again, the tightness of the course and where you have to ‘pick’ your way about the lay-out, has McIlroy, and currently a lowly No. 11 on the FedEx Cup points table, finally chomping on the bit and this despite three bogeys over his inward nine.
“It was better today and it’s been better these two days as I think I have gained a shot-and-a-half on the field off the tee yesterday,” he said.
“I don’t what it will be today but I hit some really good drives which is a lot different the last two weeks where I lost strokes on the field with my driver last week and also at the PGA Championship.
“So, I went home last Sunday night and tested different drivers, different set-ups and different heads and shafts, and actually managed to decide on a driver I used back in Connecticut for the Travellers and it’s worked really well, so far.
“I also made some comments last week where I found it hard to focus and concentrate but when you are presented with a set-up like the course like this then you have no other choice as you have to focus, you have to concentrate, and you have to think about every single shot.”
Starting from the 10th, McIlroy launched a booming 328-yard drive at the 11th hole landing just short of the green and then holing an eight-footer for a birdie ‘3’.
McIlroy was just six-feet from the flag at the par-3 13th to move to two-under and while he dropped a shot at the next, he then produced the first piece of brilliance in his round when he holed a 40-feet from the apron for birdie at the par-3 16th.
Then for a first occasion since capturing victory in last November’s WGC – HSBC Champions in Shanghai, McIlroy went into the lead in any tournament since when he two-putted for a birdie ‘4’ the par-5 first hole and the 10th of his round.
McIlroy’s remaining eight holes sadly was a mix of three bogeys and just the one birdie at the par-3 fourth hole or his 13th where he holed another six-footer.
