Rory McIlroy is ready to click up through the gears in his quest for the Turkish Airlines Open title here at the Montgomerie MaxxRoyal course, after the world number three - in cruise control and yet to move into full throttle - fashioned a second successive bogey-free 67 for 134, 10-under-par, to trail midway leader Jaco Van Zyl by four shots.
“The good thing is I feel like I have left it out there, I definitely feel like there’s a lot more to come. I feel like I can hit the ball a little better. I can definitely get my wedges closer and, if I get my wedges closer, I’ll give myself putts for birdies,” said the Northern Irishman, who slipped into tied-sixth but actually moved closer to the Springbok pacesetter.
At one point in his round, McIlroy glanced at a scoreboard and saw that he trailed Van Zyl by ten shots; but that was before he moved into the groove with a hat-trick of birdies from the 11th and before Van Zyl slipped up with a couple of late bogeys on his inward stretch.
McIlroy also had a bit of fortune, hitting a tree off his drive on the fourth which stopped the ball from going into the water hazard. And, on the 18th, after he was forced to take a penalty drop when putting his tee shot into a bush, he contrived to draw a three-wood approach to 20 yards short of the green and successfully got up and down to save par.
Graeme McDowell - who is undecided on whether to switch back to the PGA Tour for the end of the year or to play in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai - moved into a share of eighth with a wonderfully crafted second round 65 for 135, nine-under-par. “There’s lots of points up for grabs here these next four weeks. I’ve got a lot of catching up to do and this would be a perfect opportunity to have a big weekend and get myself sort of back up in the Race to Dubai,” admitted McDowell.
For Shane Lowry - playing alongside McIlroy - it proved to be a frustrating day, but, given how out of sorts he was with his game, he felt he "got out of jail" with 70 to reach the midpoint on 138, six-under.
“I didn’t play great no. So I am off to the range to hit a few. I am happy with that score. It could have been worse. I will go to the range now for a few minutes and try to dissect it with (caddie) Dermo (Byrne) and see what happens. I just wasn’t hitting it. My ball was moving a lot from right to left. My good shots were moving right to left in the air so I need to straighten that out a little bit. My good shots weren’t really good enough,” said Lowry, who is currently fifth in the Order of Merit.
