For a player who had two double-bogeys late in the first round, seemingly ruining his hopes early of a Masters win, Rory McIlroy has bounced back in historic fashion. After a 66 on day two, McIlroy became the first player in history to start a round at the Masters with six consecutive 3s on the scorecard.
That’s a birdie at 1, eagle at the par-5 second, birdie at the short par-4 third, par at the par-3 fourth, birdie at the brutal par-4 fifth and par at the par-3 sixth.
McIlroy raced to 11-under-par through seven holes and he held a three-shot lead over Bryson DeChambeau, while Australian Jason Day is in the hunt at six-under through 10 holes.
As Day said on Friday, the Masters doesn’t *actually* start until the back nine on Sunday. He just has to hang in there. Min Woo Lee started hot and moved to two-under for the tournament through four holes on day three but plummeted to two-over for the championship.
More to come from our writer on site at Augusta National…
Stephen Denton
How’s this for quote of the tournament? “I’ve been really proud of how resilient I’ve been the whole way throughout my career,” he said, “and I think [Friday’s second-round 66] was just another example of that,” McIlroy said on Friday.
