Rory McIlroy has been picking fights with just about anyone this week at TPC Sawgrass, and on Friday, he decided to take it to the golf course itself. Signing for a second-round 68, McIlroy was masterful around the devilish Pete Dye design until he faltered late. Sharing the lead at various points, the 2019 champion settled on an 9-under total through his first 36 rounds to firmly sit just behind Min Woo Lee on the first page of the 2025 Players Championship leaderboard.
A day after hitting just 4 of 14 fairways, McIlroy was in a league of his own off the tee. The four-time major champion connected on 11 fairways displaying a wide array of shots and a level of patience he has been putting an emphasis on achieving across the first three months of this season.
“Much better. Hit it much better off the tee,” McIlroy said. “I think I hit more fairways in six holes today than I did in 18 yesterday. Yeah, got it in play much better and then from there was able to give myself some opportunities and obviously make some birdies early. Couldn’t quite continue that on to the back nine, but it was much better off the tee.”
McIlroy’s day got off to an inauspicious start as he split the fairway on No. 10 and yanked a straightforward wedge long and left of the green. It proved to be his miss for most of the day, but McIlroy made the most of his opportunity on the opener and chipped in from off the green to start his round with a birdie.
Solid wedge shots into Nos. 11-12 led to one more birdie before McIlroy took care of the difficult par-4 14th with another conversion from 11 feet. He then found the surface in two on the par-5 16th and flighted a beautiful mid iron into the par-4 18th to set up an 8-foot look which was ultimately converted.
McIlroy turned in 5-under 31 and quickly reached 6 under for the round — 11 under for the tournament — with another birdie on the par-5 2nd. It appeared the 35-year-old could do no wrong only for the left misses to creep into the bag down the home stretch.
McIlroy missed five of his last seven greens in regulation, including Nos. 3-4, which put short iron and wedge opportunities in front of him. The result was two bogeys, including a bad one from the middle of the fairway on the par-5 9th, to close as McIlroy mishit his second and left himself helpless underneath a tree before signing for a six.
Despite the rough finish, McIlroy has put himself in position at the PGA Tour’s flagship event once again. Looking to become the eighth man to raise the golden trophy for a second time, McIlroy will face a different challenge on Saturday as winds are expected to gust as high as 30 mph.
Needing to blend his full bag of shots with an improving level of discipline, he is excited for the challenge the conditions will bring and the challenge.
“I’m looking forward to it,” McIlroy said. “I think it’s going to be really important to try to flight your ball and keep it under the tree line. I think, once it gets above the tree line here, it can start to really get hit by it. And it does swirl a little bit, but I think when the wind is so strong it will be a little more consistent. But yeah, this course is challenging enough, but with a wind like that, yeah, I’m excited for that challenge.”
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