NORTH BERWICK, UNITED KINGDOM (AFP) – Rory McIlroy said he was prepared to take on the elements as well as the rest of the field after establishing a narrow lead at the halfway stage of the Scottish Open.
The Northern Irishman added a second round of 66 to his opening 64 on Friday at the Renaissance Club to be 10 under par, a shot ahead of his Ryder Cup team-mate Tyrrell Hatton and South Korea’s Tom Kim.
It was another encouraging display by the 34-year-old McIlroy, who will return next week to the scene of his only British Open triumph at Hoylake in 2014 – the last of his four major wins.
Friday’s round meant that for the fifth time in his PGA Tour career – the event is co-sanctioned with the DP World (European) Tour – McIlroy has started a tournament with two scores of 66 or better.Four of those previous occasions led to three tournament wins, including his British Open success of nine years ago.
“I hit the ball really well tee to green, gave myself a ton of looks (at birdie),” McIlroy said.
“Honestly it felt like four under was probably the worst I could have shot out there.
“But you know, it’s swings and roundabouts. I holed a couple of long ones on Thursday to shoot a good score and then missed a couple today, but overall really pleased with how the last two days have went.”
“I don’t really have any expectations,” McIlroy said. “It would be silly of me to try to pick a potential target score to get to.
“So really just embrace the conditions and just sort of make the best of them.”
