Rory McIlroy hopes to put his Irish Open misery behind him and win the BMW PGA after he overcame swing-change gremlins to chisel out a four-under 68 and keep his title hopes alive at Wentworth.
The Co Down man found just ten greens in regulation on a day when the afternoon starters were delayed by more than an hour and a quarter due to the threat of lightning.
Bidding for his second title at Wentworth and a bounce-back win after being pipped at the post at Royal County Down, the world number three produced his own sparks of brilliance in the short game department and still mixed birdies at the fourth, sixth, 12th, 16th and 18th with a lone three-putt bogey at the eighth to lurk just four shots behind leader Matthew Baldwin.
“I wouldn’t have liked the week off to just wallow in self-pity and whatever else I would have been doing if I had not played,” McIlroy said.
“To come back out and get straight back on the golf course and play a couple of solid rounds and give myself another chance at a really big tournament that means a lot to me, I thought it was important to do that and thankfully I have.”
McIlroy’s recent play is all the more laudable considering he’s in the midst of swing changes.
“It’s hard when you’re trying to make subtle changes the weeks of golf tournaments, which probably isn’t the right time to do it,” McIlroy admitted.
“But I’ve just played so much this year I haven’t had a chance to get a stretch where I can spend two or three weeks at home and really dig into it.
“I just made a decision after the Tour Championship that I needed to change a few things. Started just a little bit before the Irish Open and I’ve just tried to continue that.
“Hopefully, if I do some practise, it will bed in, but it will be nice to get some time here in a couple of months where I can do some harder work on it and come out in 2025 feeling a lot more comfortable.”
Baldwin followed his opening 65 with a 66 to lead by two shots from Denmark’s Niklas Norgaard on 13-under with France’s Antoine Rozner third on 10-under and McIlroy lurking ominously in a tie for fourth with Matteo Manassero.
“I feel good,” he said. “If I look at the leaderboard, obviously the guys up there at the top have played very well over the first couple of days. Maybe not a ton of experience in that position. And then Matteo is playing well again.
“But there seems to be a lot of the big guns around seven or eight under so I’m right in the mix and feeling good about where I’m at. Hopefully, I continue to feel good about the game for the next two days.”
Shane Lowry was joint 13th on six-under and while he was unhappy he managed only a 71 despite hitting 14 greens in regulation, he’s ready for a weekend run.
“Frustrating,” Lowry said after failing to birdie either of the closing par-fives. “It was a bad round of golf. But it is what it is. You take it on the chin; you move on. I’m only seven back, and we’ve got a lot of golf to play.
“I’m still in a nice position in this tournament around a golf course that I know on love and yeah, I’ll give it a rattle this weekend.”
Tom McKibbin birdied his last two holes to shoot 71 and sit a shot inside the projected cut line on three-under, while veteran Pádraig Harrington got up and down from 90 yards for a birdie and a 71 to make it on the number, having made life tough for himself with a three-putt bogey at the 17th.
“I played very nicely all the way. Really bad, slow start with two three-putts, and then it wasn’t looking like my day. And then I made a nice birdie on 10, which gave me hope. Birdied 12. Then obviously you got those six holes coming home, that are pretty tough.
“In your head, you’re trying to get to 18, maybe one under, and birdie the last. And I got the bonus birdie on 16, so looking pretty good. And I ran my putt by on 17, and it missed because I hit it too hard.
“Twice today, I hit puts where I just didn’t trust the break and missed it. So, you know, I put myself under a lot of pressure at the last, but I hit a cracking pitch where, you know, I think if I didn’t need to make birdie, I probably would have been a little bit more cautious with it. So I went at it and got it to six feet.
“And obviously, then very helpful that the two guys in front of me were putting down the same line. I had a really good read on it. And, you know, it was nice to knock it in to make the cut.
“We always want to make cuts. It’s a weird thing about us. They shouldn’t matter that much, but we always like making cuts.”
Baldwin (38) rolled in six birdies and just one bogey – his only dropped shot of the tournament so far – through 16 holes before the threat of lightning suspended play after he had teed off at the penultimate hole.
But not even a delay of an hour and 17 minutes could distract as he immediately added another gain at the 17th to set the clubhouse target of 13 under, which equalled the tournament record set by McGinley in 2008.
“Incredibly pleased,” Baldwin said. “Incredibly proud of how I’ve played so far. There’s a long way to go. Keep doing the same things, should be a good week.
“Just playing sensible golf, really, I guess. I’m trying not to hit it too close, which obviously then forces you, sometimes you can get short-sided and things like that. So I’ve been putting really well, which has kept momentum going and it’s worked out all right.
“Trying to just play golf, and I know that physically the things that I’m doing in my golf swing are correct and you know, the shots that I’m hitting are showing that, which from that, obviously settles your mind a little bit and just try and enjoy it as much as you can.”
Nørgaard, who won his maiden DP World Tour title at the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo earlier this month, carded an eagle, four birdies and a bogey to reach 11 under.
Frenchman Rozner birdied six of the last seven holes, including five in a row to finish his round, to catapult himself into third at ten under following his 65.
At the weather-delayed Italian Challenge Open, Conor Purcell blasted eight birdies in a six-under 65 to share fifth on eight-under at halfway, three shots behind clubhouse leader Sam Hutsby.
It was also a good day for Douglas rookie Sara Byrne in the LET’s La Sella Open, where she shot a one-under 71 to share 15th on three-under at halfway.
She’s just four shots behind Australia’s Kirsten Rudgeley Czech star Sara Kouskova and Italy Virginia Elena Carta with Lauren Walsh on seven back after firing a 69 to make the level par cut on the mark.
Meanwhile, Royal Dublin’s Niall Kearney and The Island’s Paul McBride made it safely through the First Stage of the DP World Tour Qualifying School at Donnington Grove near Newbury.
Both men shot one-under 71s, leaving Kearney tied for fifth on nine-under and McBride joint 14th on six-under at a venue where 22 players progressed on five-under or better.
McBride looked certain to miss out when he turned in four-over 40 but he dug deep on the back nine, making six birdies, including two in a row to finish, as he stormed home in 31 to make it with a shot to spare.
Meanwhile, Scotland’s Matthew Wilson (24) said it was a dream come true as he won the North of Ireland Amateur Open Championship at Royal Portrush.
After opening with a brace of 69s to share the lead with Castleknock’s Paul Coughlan heading into the final 36 holes yesterday, the Forres golfer shot 75 to Coughlan’s 74 to trail by a shot with a round to play.
But as Coughlan dropped three shots in his first seven holes en route to a 74, Wilson closed with a 71 to win by three strokes from the Irish international on four-under 284.
“It’s the biggest thing I’ve won so far, comfortably,” Wilson said.
Longniddry’s James Morgan was third on three over, with Carton House’s Keith Egan fourth on four-over and Millicent’s Brian Doran a shot further back in fifth.