PORTRUSH, United Kingdom: Rory McIlroy continued to battle driving woes during a topsy-turvy front nine of his second round at the British Open on Friday, as 2023 champion Brian Harman moved into the lead at Royal Portrush.
Home favorite McIlroy was level par at the turn and one-under for the tournament, five strokes behind Harman, as he continues his bid for a second Claret Jug.
World number one Scottie Scheffler, one shot off the overnight lead of four-under, is among the later starters and could face rainy conditions in the afternoon.
Harman, who won by six shots at Hoylake two years ago, started with consecutive birdies before another on the par-five seventh hole took him into the outright lead.
The American reached six-under for the tournament through his first 11 holes, one shot clear of Tyrrell Hatton, Danish youngster Rasmus Hojgaard and Harris English.
McIlroy delighted the crowds surrounding the opening hole with a birdie to immediately move to two-under after his first-round 70.
The world number two, who only found two of 14 fairways on Thursday, leaked a drive on the second well right but still saved par despite having to take a penalty drop.
His roller-coaster tournament continued with bogeys on the third and fifth holes sandwiching another birdie on four, as his errant driving prevented him from taking advantage of excellent scoring conditions.
Justin Rose, who lost to McIlroy in a play-off at the Masters in April, made his first bogey of the tournament on the sixth hole but was three-under overall after his front nine.
McIlroy’s playing partner Tommy Fleetwood bounced back from an opening 73 with three straight birdies to start his second round, moving to two-under for the tournament through nine.
Robert MacIntyre, hoping to become the first Scottish major champion since Paul Lawrie in 1999, surged into contention with three birdies in his first seven holes to reach three-under.
Two-time US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau bounced back from his disastrous first-round 78 with three birdies on the outward half to give himself an outside chance of making the cut.
Joint overnight leader Jacob Skov Olesen hit two shots out of bounds off the first tee and made a quadruple-bogey eight.
Scheffler also battled struggles off the tee in his opening round but still managed to fire a three-under 68.
The PGA Championship winner will have his eyes firmly set on the top of the leaderboard when he gets his second round under way at 3:10 p.m. local time (1410 GMT).
“When it’s raining sideways, it’s actually, believe it or not, not that easy to get the ball in the fairway,” he said on Thursday.
Other afternoon starters including Matthew Fitzpatrick and Li Haotong, who were both tied for the overnight lead on four-under par.
Reigning champion Xander Schauffele resumes his title defense on even par, while Jon Rahm and Shane Lowry, the 2019 winner at Portrush, will be looking to improve from one-under.
