Rory powers into handsome lead

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So much for ‘freaky Friday.’ It was more like fun Friday for Rory McIlroy at Hoylake today as he emphatically rested his recent alarming 2nd round collapses.

Not this time. The 25-years-old superstar was in a class of his own and in fact produced another masterclass of a performance to leave the rest of the Open field in his wake.

McIlroy (pictured) was untouchable, spectacularly emulating his first round 66 to storm to -12, taking a handsome four shot lead going into the weekend.

When ‘Rors’ is in this form there is no stopping or catching him and if he produces the same again over the weekend he will undoubtedly claim his first Claret Jug.

And the fact is that when McIlroy wins majors he does it in resounding style. He won the 2011 US Open by eight shots after finishing on -16 and won the following year’s US PGA by the same margin.

The Northern Ireland boy wonder is firmly in the box seat but would be the first to admit he’s benefited from a kind draw which has seen him benefit from the most favourable conditions yesterday morning and, of course, this afternoon.

“It was a really good day,” said McIlroy. “I played really well and solid despite not having he best of starts. But I knew I had to take advantage of the par-5s and that’s what happened.

“Being a frontrunner gives me a lot of confidence. It’s a great position to be in and I’m really in control of my game.

“It’s a good feeling to have and I’m lucky to have had that feeling in majors before and hopefully I can do it again.”

Tomorrow McIlroy will tee it up with big-hitting American Dustin Johnson (-8) who produced a stunning bogey-free 65 – the round of the week so far – which included a magnificent seven birdies. It should be some tussle and the bearded Johnson will be determined to derail the McIlroy steamroller though the latter will hugely benefit from the backing of a partisan home crowd.

Johnson’s last hole birdie enabled him to sneak a shot clear of six players on -6 including Sergio Garcia, Rickie Fowler and South African duo Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen who have both already tasted major victory.

Vastly experienced American Jim Furyk (-5) is also in there and to be honest many more players, including Masters champion Adam Scott (-3) and Justin Rose (-2) will still believe they’re in with a shout though many morning contenders could well be hampered by dodgy weather tomorrow.

Majors can change pretty dramatically and quickly and McIlroy – and his rivals – will know it’s only half-time.

Mind you, probably rule 2006 Hoylake champion Tiger Woods out of the equation and only a last hole birdie enabled him to survive the cut after a bitterly disappointing round of 77 (+2). But take your hats off to US Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson: the 64-years-old five-times winner matched Tiger at the halfway mark and as a result broke his own ‘oldest player to make the cut’ record. What a legend.

 

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