Rory McIlroy hasn’t taken long to shake off any of the rust which developed in his off season, as the Northern Irish man moved ominously into contention in the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club with a bogey-free second round 65 for a midway total of 11-under-par 131, one shot behind co-leaders Marco Penge and Jacob Bridgeman.
Playing in just his second event of the PGA Tour season, having opened his year’s work with back-to-back events in Dubai on the DP World Tour, McIlroy signed for a scorecard that featured four birdies and an eagle, which came on the Par 5 11th where he hit an approach of 236 yards to 11 feet and rolled in the putt.
In contrast to his play in defence of the Pebble Beach pro-am last week where his bid for a 30th career win on the PGA Tour was undone by what he called “big numbers” blotting his card, when he had three double-bogeys and a triple bogey, McIlroy was far more clinical in his execution.
“I’m excited for the weekend,” said McIlroy. “No bogeys is always nice. Making one bogey through the first 36 holes compared to the big numbers I had last week. Tidied everything up, which is good ... I still hit some loose shots, but the course set-up is in a way that you can get away with it a little bit more.
RM Block
“But I’ve hit it well, I’ve controlled my distance well for the most part, and I’ve holed some nice putts from sort of inside eight feet for pars when I’ve needed to.”
Shane Lowry added a second round 68 to his opening 73 to move to one-under-par 141 in tied-33rd while Scottie Scheffler, who had been in tied-71st and last place when play was suspended in Thursday’s first round recovered superbly to make the cut on the mark on level-par 142.
[ Rory McIlroy shows that he’s a man for all seasons at Genesis InvitationalOpens in new window ]
England’s Marco Penge, who earned his PGA Tour card through the DP World Tour order of merit pathway, shot a second round 64 to add to his opening 66 for 130 to sit alongside Bridgeman in the 36-holes lead.
Penge pinpointed a huge improvement in his putting as one reason for his move into contention: “Just forgetting about where’s my line aiming, forgetting about what do I need to think to stroke it well, forgetting about all the technical stuff.
“It’s more scoping the putt out from the sides and walking around the hole and really visualising and getting into the putt.
“That’s something I haven’t been doing.
“I’ve been getting so stuck on my stroke and kind of forgotten about finesse, where these last two days it’s all about visualising and just, you know, trying to see the ball go into the hole from a certain point and stuff like that.”
[ Rory McIlroy aiming to shake off Pebble Beach rustiness at Genesis InvitationalOpens in new window ]
