The script turned nasty for the two pals, as Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry – who’d started this 125th US Open with genuine ambitions – were cast as fall guys, forced to find an escape route out of an examination that asked one tough question after another.
McIlroy survived. Lowry didn’t.
Frustration was evident in their behaviour as the pressure mounted, hole by hole, shot by shot.
In McIlroy’s case, it was a club throw down on the 12th hole after an iron approach to the Par 5 turned so that the ball nestled into the gnarly rough. The two-handed toss of the 3-iron some 20 yards down the fairway left nobody watching in any doubt as to his utter frustration.
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US Open: Rory McIlroy vents frustration as he scraps his way to making cut
On the 17th, it surfaced again when he smashed his 3-wood into the tee marker after pushing his shot into a greenside bunker, short-siding himself.
There was a pair of them in it, sharing the frustration of the game; and the course!
For Lowry, his frazzled mind played tricks on him. On the 14th green, he inexplicably bent down to pick up his ball without marking, a one stroke penalty for his actions turning what was a bogey into a double-bogey. Not that it truly mattered at that juncture, as Lowry’s fate was well and truly sealed by then after a start to his round that saw him go bogey-double bogey-bogey-bogey in his opening four holes.
Somehow, McIlroy found a way to survive into the weekend. The task proved beyond Lowry.
McIlroy ensured he would be around for the weekend – some nine shots behind 36-holes leader Sam Burns – after signing for a second round 72 for six-over-par 146, a shot inside the cutline.
McIlroy showed his class when it matted on the Par 4 18th, standing on the tee box on the cutline, he unleashed a drive of 372 yards down the middle of the fairway and hit an approach in to five feet for a birdie. He calmly rolled in the putt, and gave a sigh of relief.
It hadn’t started so well. McIlroy could hardly afford to put a foot wrong in his bid to, firstly, make the cut, and, secondly, to try to play his way back into the championship.
The misstep, though, came right from the off: his driver, so often the foundation in a season that has already claimed him three titles – the Pebble Beach pro-am, The Players and the Masters – was disobedient from the get-go, finding a fairway bunker down the left of the first hole as McIlroy started the second round with a double-bogey six.
If that misdemeanour put McIlroy on the back foot from the off, worse was to follow. Another double-bogey six followed in quickstep time, on the third hole. This time, McIlroy’s drive found a fairway bunker down the right. Having started his round four-over from an opening round 74, the world number two’s challenge to survive had doubled before he knew it.
A birdie from 30 feet on the ninth hole at least gave McIlroy some hope as he turned for home, only for another tee shot on the 11th to sneak into a fairway bunker down the left which led to another bogey. The club toss on 12 graphically showcased his frustration, where he would par the Par 5.
Finally, McIlroy saw some light, as a 20-footer for birdie on the 15th brought him to 7-over for the championship (onto the cut line). Survival at least within reach. And he closed the deal magnificently on the final hole to get into the weekend’s final two rounds and the chance to play pursuit of Burns and those ahead.
Lowry, though, will have to wait until a return to Royal Portrush for next month’s 153rd Open after a thoroughly disappointing return to Oakmont where he was runner-up in 2016. This time, a 78 second round to add to his opening 79 left him cast well adrift on 17-over-par 157.
