OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – Rory McIlroy doesn’t need fans to keep his head in the game at the BMW Championship. Olympia Fields is so tough that it only allows his full attention with each shot.
McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay made their share of mistakes on Friday and shook them off because it is sure to happen in the toughest test the PGA TOUR has seen this year.
At the end of another steamy afternoon south of Chicago, they were the only survivors to be beaten.
A week after McIlroy admitted going through the moves without a crowd to spread the cheer, McIlroy had a 1-under-69 to share the 36-hole lead with Cantlay.
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It has been quite difficult for Tiger Woods, whose PGA TOUR season appears to be two rounds to go.
He didn’t have enough good shots to atone for his bad ones, and he had to do a 35-foot par putt on his final hole to hit 75, which left him nine shots. Woods was at the bottom of the pack in a tournament where he must finish fourth to be in the top 30 to advance to the TOUR Championship.
Cantlay took a 50-foot chip for birdie and a 50-yard wedge for Eagle. He also missed the green on three of the par 3s, the last resulting in a double bogey. He finished with a 6-iron from the thick rough and made a 40-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole. It added up to a 68, which is the top score of the round.
They were at 1 under 139, one shot ahead of Hideki Matsuyama and Dustin Johnson walking in opposite directions when it was time to sign their scorecards. Matsuyama, the only player to get under 4 at any time this week, dropped four shots over his last 10 holes for a 73. Johnson finished birdie-birdie for 69.
“I think the test helped me focus because if you lose focus for a second … just having a difficulty concentrating here can really cost you,” said McIlroy. “I think one of the big keys this week is just not making big numbers. If you knock him out of position get him back in position, make sure your worse score is bogey, and move on . To be honest, bogeys aren’t bad out here. “
He made a mistake on the 14th hole by walking and walking for a long time, and only a large wedge to a 5 foot back pin kept him from making a big mistake despite missing the par putt. Later in his round at the fifth hole he flirted with difficulty with a wedge from a height of 134 meters that was 30 meters short and the needle of which was hidden behind a large bunker. He left that in the collar just before the green and paced up and down for bogey.
Cantlay doesn’t expect to play with wedges twice per round and is hoping he can improve his game a bit. Nevertheless, he loves the idea of having to find your way around the course.
“It’s about as stiff from a test as you’d like,” Cantlay said. “It’s very, very difficult and you have to play from the fairway and, to be honest, you have to play from below the hole. The greens are so sloped that you really have to go uphill. And when you ‘re in the rough it gets exponential harder to do that. “
For those who play well – somewhere within a few par strokes in this case – it was an enjoyable challenge. It was a challenge for everyone regardless of the score.
“I don’t know if rain really matters,” said Kevin Kisner after a bogey-bogey finish ruined an otherwise good day and gave him a 70, leaving three shots behind. “I think even par wins the golf tournament.”
Don’t 280 always win the US Open? Arnold Palmer always said that.
And that feels like a US Open.
Go back to Shinnecock Hills at the US Open two years ago to find out when the last time someone won above average (Brooks Koepka). For non-majors, the tour that was said about par hasn’t won the Byron Nelson Classic since Bruce Lietzke in 1981.
It’s a massive change from last week when Johnson won by 11 strokes at 30 under 254.
“Last week was fun too,” said Johnson. “But this week is definitely more of a challenge. Every single hole out here is difficult. You really have to concentrate on every shot you hit.”
Among those two shots behind was Louis Oosthuizen, whose birdie in the dark on the final hole at TPC Boston last week put him in 70th place to qualify for the BMW Championship.
“This is the golf course I had to do to do what I have to do,” he said when he got into the top 30 but if you really stick with it and play in the middle of the greens and lag behind those putts you can you make a lot of pars. And you won’t lose any spots doing pars. “
