ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – The spirits from every corner of the Old Course which belonged to Tiger Woods for two days at St. Andrews passed on to Rory McIlroy at The Open, and he certainly did his part to give them what he came to see on Saturday.
McIlroy made a bunker shot for the eagle at hole 10 which he described as a part of skill and a part of luck, but it was pure magic. He showed discipline in knowing when to aim away from the flag, and in catching bogey when he was trapped between a wall and a road behind the 17th green.
McIlroy now shares the stage at the golf house with Viktor Hovland, the emerging Norwegian star who was just as good at birding and avoiding the mistakes that cost so many other potential contenders.
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They both birded in the final hole for a 6 under 66. No one else was less than four shots away. They have the same score at 16 less than 200, although support is unilateral.
“They’re singing his name out there. I think he’s definitely one of the audience’s favorites,” said Masters champion Scottie Scheffler. “How can you not root Rory?”
McIlroy is on the verge of finishing eight long years without a major. He wants to stay in his world without ignoring the support that rains down on him.
“I think the moment is also being appreciated and the fact that it’s incredibly great to have a chance to win the Open in St Andrews,” McIlroy said. “That’s what dreams are made of. And tomorrow I’ll try to make a dream come true.”
Hovland, already with six victories around the world in his four years since leaving the state of Oklahoma as the U.S. amateur champion, could appreciate support for McIlroy and all he has done. He played flawlessly and looked like he was ready for the task.
“I’m going to face one of the best players in the world and I’m definitely not going to stop, because he’s not,” Hovland said.
It wasn’t a two-way race, though it felt like that when the Old Course emptied and the bagpipes started to roll at the end of the day.
Cameron Smith, who started with a two-shot lead, made a double bogey at hole 13 when he attempted a bold play with his feet in a pot bunker. Cameron Young went over the green 16 and then went back to the other side to make a double bogey in the 16th hole.
They were four shots from behind, still in play. Two-time main champion Dustin Johnson, the best candidate in the Saudi-funded LIV Golf League to claim this major, was put on the green and in a bunker for one of the three bogeys of the next nine. He fell six shots back.
McIlroy and Hovland did not have these problems.
Hovland sank a pair of 40-foot putts on his way to four consecutive birdies to the nine forwards to take the lead. McIlroy finally caught him making a vacuum from a pot bunker about 80 feet away by the eagle in hole 10, causing a roar that could be heard all the way back to the Royal & Ancient clubhouse. .
McIlroy only a day earlier tilted his cap to Woods as he began his second round and Woods was on the verge of losing the cut, crossing the Swilcan Bridge for what could have been the last time. The R&A set the departure times in this way so that they would be exceeded.
Woods is the only one when it comes to driving the sport, although McIlroy is the most popular in the world, and it looked like this: on the first tee when McIlroy was introduced, for each bird, and when he went take the lead for the first time with a bird in the 14th.
“I love having so much support,” McIlroy said. “But at the same time, I need to stay in my little world and try to play a good round of golf. I hope that’s enough.”
His only mistake was to get out of the rough left and onto the 17th green, crossing the road and near the stone wall. He made a safe throw to the green and made two puts for bogey.
Hovland, bogey-free for the round, showed some magic on the 17th by leaving the dirt road just before the road, climbing the hill to about 5 feet for a couple.
“I’ve never been in a more important place in my career,” Hovland said. He lived up to the task, and the popular Norwegian also saw – and heard – what he will face on Sunday.
“I have a couple of them,” he said of the spirits so inclined toward McIlroy. “I’m probably a underdog, but that doesn’t matter to me at all. Hopefully we can push ourselves tomorrow.”
Smith missed a short birdie chance on the 18th and had a 73. His biggest mistake was not getting the ball back into play on the 13th, but trying to advance the ball and get into difficult places. He also made three puts from 30 feet to start his round and only made two birdies.
Young, the PGA Tour debutant who finished a playoff shot at the PGA Championship two months ago, had a 71.
Scheffler was on the lookout after a 69. He missed a 10-foot birdie chance on the 16th and then made three puts on the 17th for a bogey. Scheffler, who finished a shot from behind in the U.S. Open, had a 69 and was five back along with Si Woo Kim (67).
Johnson also fired three shots at a bogey on the 13th and another at par-5 on the 14th, where his long eagle putt ran up, through the green and into a boat bunker. Instead of a bird, he had to fight for the bogey. He dropped two more shots coming in for a 71 and was six behind.
McIlroy last won a major in 2014 at the PGA Championship in Valhalla. He would like nothing more than to win at the golf house, in the Old Course where Jack Nicklaus once said that a player’s career would not be complete without winning a pitcher of claret at St. Andrews.
“All parts of my game have felt good this week,” McIlroy said. “I just need to keep it one more day.”