GOLF:Rory McIlroy showed he had the nerve to match his talent as he reached the halfway point at Doral firmly in contention at the WGC-CA Championship.The 19-year-old from Holywood in Co Down is bidding to become the youngest winner in US PGA Tour history, eclipsing the achievement of Johnny McDermott in winning the 1911 US Open at 19 years, 10 months and 12 days.
McIlroy will beat that by two days if he conquers the Blue Monster course and the top 70 golfers in the world in an 80-man field on Sunday, and he gave every indication he will still be in the hunt after finishing his second round with an eagle and a birdie following a back-nine wobble.
McIlroy, the world number 16, carded a six-under round of 66 today to reach the halfway mark of this tournament in a tie with Kenny Perry of the United States at 10 under par, three strokes behind clubhouse leader Phil Mickelson, who posted a 66.
It could have been much worse had he buckled following two bogeys in three holes at his 14th and 16th. That sent him back to seven under but the youngster rallied in style at his penultimate hole, the par-five eighth, with an eagle three after sending in a 266-yard second shot to seven feet.
McIlroy then birdied the ninth to close out his round with an approach shot from 203 yards to eight feet, from where he holed out.
“I just made two really bad bogeys on five and seven to drop back to seven under. I ripped a drive up the fairway and I had 268 to the hole and it was just a perfect three-wood for me into the wind.
“Luckily I hit it good and it pitched in the middle of the green and ran up to about six feet. It was a nice way to finish with the eagle there and the birdie at the last,” said McIlroy.
“The couple of bogeys I made today were tough to get out of my mind as they were both with sand wedge in my hand. I hit a great drive up seven and I was right in the middle of a sand divot so I couldn’t so much about that.
“But you have to try and keep grinding and try and put it to the back of your mind and focus on the next shot and obviously I was able to do that on the eighth,” he added.
World number three Mickelson had finished in style for his 65 yesterday, chipping in for birdies at both the 17th and 18th holes to complete a back nine of six birdies and no bogeys.
It led the American left-hander, a three-time major champion, to state he was playing as well as he ever had, and he started in suitably confident mood today with a birdie at the 10th to move to eight under.
He overcame a bogey six at his third hole but bounced back with consecutive birdies on his fifth and sixth holes and two more at the eighth and 11th.
Mickelson then struck gold again with a chip in from 33 feet at the seventh, his 16th, for a birdie three and holed another birdie at his 17th before a par at the last gave him a second-round 66.
Perry had the lowest round of the day of those in the clubhouse, his eight-under 64 sending him into contention while Ian Poulter was in a tie for seventh place at eight under following a second round, five-under 67.
One shot further back was Pádraig Harrington who posted a battling 71, a disappointing return considering he carded an eagle and two birdies in his first five holes.
He would only add one more but also threw in three bogeys and a double to drop back down the field. Darren Clarke shot a one under 71
to move to one over, while Graeme McDowell carded a 74 and is three over going into the weekend's action.
Tiger Woods signed for a two-under par 70 to move to three under, ten shots off Mickelson's lead.
Second round scores (Par 72, US Unless stated)
131Phil Mickelson 65 66
133Nick Watney 66 67
134Kenny Perry 70 64,
Rory McIlroy(NIrl) 68 66
135Rodney Pampling (Aus) 66 69, Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 65 70, Camilo Villegas (Col) 67 68
136Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 65 71, Dustin Johnson 70 66, Jim Furyk 68 68, Ian Poulter (Eng) 69 67, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 67 69, Soren Kjeldsen (Swe) 70 66, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 72 64
137Paul Casey (Eng) 71 66, Sean O'Hair 67 70, Oliver Wilson (Eng) 67 70,
Padraig Harrington(Irl) 66 71
138Charley Hoffman 68 70, Justin Leonard 69 69, Pat Perez 70 68, Andres Romero (Arg) 67 71, Briny Baird 70 68
139Steve Stricker 69 70, Luke Donald (Eng) 69 70
140Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 74 66, Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 70 70, Ross Fisher (Eng) 71 69, James Kingston (Rsa) 66 74, Ben Curtis 71 69, Anthony Kim 71 69, Robert Allenby (Aus) 69 71, Mike Weir (Can) 71 69, Shingo Katayama (Jpn) 70 70
141Tiger Woods 71 70, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 65 76, Davis Love III 70 71, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 73 68, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 71 70, Vijay Singh (Fij) 69 72, Ernie Els (Rsa) 70 71, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 69 72, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 70 71
142Zach Johnson 70 72, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 73 69, Chad Campbell 72 70, Tim Clark (Rsa) 71 71, Stephen Ames (Can) 72 70, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 69 73, Lee Westwood (Eng) 71 71, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 71 71
143Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 69 74, Yong-eun Yang (Kor) 73 70, Justin Rose (Eng) 73 70, Soren Hansen (Den) 74 69, Bubba Watson 72 71, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 74 69
144Peter Hanson (Swe) 70 74, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 75 69, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 72 72, Richard Finch (Eng) 72 72, Boo Weekley 69 75, Mark Brown 73 71
145Hunter Mahan 71 74, Wen-Tang Lin (Tai) 75 70,
Darren Clarke(NIrl) 74 71
146Dudley Hart 71 75, K J Choi (Kor) 73 73, Ken Duke 71 75, Stewart Cink 73 73, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 70 76
147John Rollins 76 71,
Graeme McDowell(NIrl) 73 74, Adam Scott (Aus) 71 76, Billy Mayfair 75 72, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 76 71
148Azuma Yano (Jpn) 77 71, D.J. Trahan 77 71
150Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 74 76, Kevin Sutherland 74 76
