An impressive putting performance helped Rory McIlroy close the gap on Adam Scott at the summit of the WGC-Cadillac Championship in Florida.
After a mundane opening round performance on Thursday, McIlroy found his rhythm to card a seven under-par second round and picked up a string of birdies to leave him two shots off the pace at the Blue Monster.
A bogey on the second was the only blemish on his card and consecutive birdies from the fifth to the eight, a result of a number of delightful approach shots, leaves him in good shape heading into the weekend.
"It’s funny, I’ve been playing it around in my head a little bit about making the switch,” McIlroy said of his new putting approach. “The one thing that I was sort of worried about was ‘McIlroy copying Spieth.’ That was my big thing.”
“That was needed, definitely,” he conitnued, “I just needed to play a round without as many mistakes. The birdies were always there.
"I’ve been making birdies, that’s not been the problem. It’s eliminating these mistakes that I’ve been making and to play a round with only one bogey was really nice.
“Over the last few rounds, it’s just been great shots mixed with poor shots and short-siding myself, mental errors. I could make six birdies but if you’re making six bogeys or worse, you’re not really going to make any ground. It was nice to play a pretty much flawless round. I think the difference was holing par putts when I needed to.”
Former world number one Scott is chasing his second consecutive tour win, after victory at the Honda Classic.
“I’ve gotten off to good starts and good finishes; when you’re playing pretty good anyway that helps your scoring a lot,” said the Australian.
“I hope I can rely on that the next two days but you know, I’d like to find a little extra gear this weekend. I think I’ll probably need it to win with the quality of leaderboard we’ve got and that will be the test for me."
Honourable mention to Kristoffer Broberg for the shot of the day, this chip on the 16th.
Now you see it ... now you don’t.#ShotOfTheDay https://t.co/R5KPR3aLf4
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 5, 2016
Via The Guardian
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