Grand Slam winning Rory McIlroys superbly birdied three of his closing four holes and then declared ‘Im ready to roar’ as he heads to the weekend rounds of the Crown Australian Open in Melbourne.
McIlroy was looking he may miss the cut in the co-sanctioned event that he’d brilliantly captured a dozen years ago and moreso when he unceremoniously produced a ‘fresh air’ swing in playing from under bushes down the right side of the 14th hole at Royal Melbourne.
The World No. 1 produced a bogey before bouncing back in superb manner, and delighting another massive spectator turnout, by birdieing the 15th along with 17th and 18th holes.
McIlroy’s round of 68 has him placed inside the top-30 and seven shots adrift of the leading duo of Portugal’s Daniel Rodrigues (64) and in-form Norwegian Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (66) sharing the lead on nine-under.
Aussie Min Woo, and playing alongside McIlroy, posted an eagle and four birdies in a score of 65 to tied third on eight-under.
Adam Scott, and also in the same group as Lee and McIlroy, has put himself in position for a second ‘home’ Open title shooting 66 to be sharing seventh place at seven-under.
Those also on seven-under include Cam Smith and clearly thrilling the home crowd with a flawless round of six birdies in his 65 and with the third player in Mexican Carlos Ortiz signing for 70 to be alongside the pair of Aussies.
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McIlroy got his round underway and aside for a lone birdie at the fifth hole the World No. 2 hardly got out of first gear for the opening 13 holes ahead of his mishap at 14 in finding the overhanging bushes of a rather large, all-embracing tree.
The 2013 Australian Open studied the shot he faced but then to everyone’s complete surprise he ended-up catching a branch and taking a ‘fresh air’ swing on route to a bogey ‘6’.
It was then commentators were suggesting he may miss the halfway cut but fortunately for all McIlroy produced some overdue brilliance birdieing the 15th, 17th and the last holes at ‘The Royal”.
“I needed to play those last four holes the way I did,” said McIlroy.
“It was not onef my finer moments on 14, I can’t remember the last time I had a fresh air.
“I was trying to get in really low, flick it back in the play, and caught a branch on the way down and completely missed the ball.
“The drive on 15 was a big shot because that was, it could have been a turning point one way or another, I don’t hit that tee shot well, and you’re looking at another bogey, but gave myself an easy enough birdie on 15.
“Then yeah, I played the last few holes pretty well, so I don’t feel like I’m that far by.
“I certainly haven’t had my best stuff, but I turned it on when I needed to there the last few holes and go out tomorrow hopefully in some good conditions and shoot a low one and get myself right back in there”.
