Rory McIlroy is hanging in there in the 2017 Masters Tournament at one over. Does he still have a shot at winning his first Green Jacket this weekend?
We’re halfway through the 2017 Masters Tournament. Man, didn’t those first two days fly by or what? Anyway, the Round 2 cuts have been made. Everybody who shot +7 or worse isn’t playing golf on Saturday at Augusta. Sorry, Bubba Watson.
One guy that is definitely playing in the final two rounds at Augusta National would be popular Northern Ireland golfer Rory McIlroy. He hasn’t taken off just yet, but there is a chance he could climb up the leaderboard at any moment.
McIlroy shot a 72 to finish Round 1 at even par on Thursday. While McIlroy should be happy that leader Charley Hoffman shot a 75 to fall back to -4 on Friday, he didn’t exactly get closer to the top of the leader board on his own.
McIlroy shot a 73 in Round 2 to finish at one over par. Though McIlroy had four birdies on Friday, he also had five bogeys to knock him back to 13th place. That has McIlroy five strokes back of the four-way tie for first.
Leading the pack in August are Hoffman, Sergio Garcia, Thomas Pieters and Rickie Fowler. Tied for 13th with McIlroy are Matt Kuchar and Soren Kjeldsen. McIlory is only three strokes back of fifth-placed William McGirt.
For McIlroy to climb up the leaderboard, he has to stop bogeying one and three to get himself in an early round hole. McIlroy shot better on the back-nine both days. Maybe that’s where he catches fire this week?
Here are the guys ahead of or tied with McIlroy atop the Masters leaderboard:
T1. Charley Hoffman -4
T1. Sergio Garcia -4
T1. Thomas Pieters -4
T1. Rickie Fowler -4
5. William McGirt -2
T6. Justin Rose -1
T6. Ryan Moore -1
T6. Jon Rahm -1
T6. Fred Couples -1
T10. Adam Scott 0
T10. Jordan Spieth 0
T10. Phil Mickelson 0
T13. Matt Kuchar +1
*T13. Rory McIlroy +1
T13. Soren Kjeldsen +1
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In short, McIlroy needs to shoot better than even par at 72 on Saturday to have any hopes of winning his first Green Jacket. If he can shoot a 69 to get to -2 through Round 3, McIlroy has some hope to be a Masters champion. He does have to hope that one of the four leaders doesn’t erupt at Augusta on Saturday either.