One of the great rounds of Rory McIlroy’s tangled love affair with Augusta National played out on a beautiful Friday afternoon in Georgia, as the great days of this sport often do, like a battle between utter brilliance and utter chaos.
Once you know that McIlroy started his round condemned as a no-hoper, dismissed as a basket-case who would never win the Masters because he wants it too much, and ended it two off the lead after shooting a stunning six-under-par 66, it is fair to assume that utter brilliance won the day.
The soap opera had started soon after 10am. The chill in the air that greeted the early starters had begun to fade by the time McIlroy stepped on to the tee at the 575-yard, par five second and gazed down the fairway that plunges downhill before curving away to the left towards the green.
Matt Fitzpatrick had eagled the hole a few minutes earlier and McIlroy knew that, after the disasters of the previous evening when he had dropped four shots in the last four holes of his first round, he needed a fast start to salvage his latest tilt at the only major he has never won.
A bird trilled brightly as he launched into that easy, elegant swing that is laced with the violence of an explosion and his ball flew away from his club face. The marshals behind him pointed to the right as his ball headed for some of the pink dogwoods that give the hole its name. And now the hole began to turn into one of those wonderful dramas that define the mix of anarchy, chance and genius that golf can become.
McIlroy’s ball came to rest in some pine straw alongside a small truck that was a mechanical platform for one of those elevated television cameras which are a feature of big golf tournaments.
Rory McIlroy revived his bid to complete the career grand slam and win the Masters on Friday
The Northern Irishman had a disastrous end to proceedings in the last few holes on day one
McIlroy’s charge saw him end day two at six-under par and joint-third on the leaderboard
The platform had to be moved if McIlroy was to be able to play his ball, so the cameraman and his camera were lowered slowly down from their eyrie, the platform was reeled in and the truck was edged away.
The tree trunk that blocked McIlroy’s path to the green, though, could not be moved and so the Northern Irishman hooked his ball out on to the fairway as best he could and it came skittering and skidding and hurrying towards where a group of us were standing on the other side of the fairway.
McIlroy loped over and looked at the position of his ball. He bent down to flick away a couple of twigs that were in its vicinity and asked if the gallery could move back a few yards to give him some space. ‘Sorry guys,’ he said.
He muttered some words to his caddie, Harry Diamond. Diamond nodded. McIlroy stood over his ball and floated a wedge shot towards the hole.
‘Sit, sit,’ McIlroy commanded it urgently and it obeyed. It came to rest five feet from the hole.
The galleries around the hole roared their approval and McIlroy allowed himself a thin smile, his first of the day. ‘Atta boy, Rors,’ an American patron yelled at the top of his voice as McIlroy walked away. Another man, watching with his young son, spoke more softly. ‘That was worth the wait,’ he said.
A few minutes later, McIlroy rolled that 5ft putt into the hole for birdie and the gallery cheered again with the hope that maybe this was the start of the world’s No 2 golfer beginning to repair the damage of the previous evening and closing the gap on the leaders.
It didn’t quite work like that. As Bryson DeChambeau and Ludvig Aberg chipped away at Rose’s lead, McIlroy remained becalmed on the front nine. On the ninth itself, his approach landed a few feet from the flag but then back spin took it rolling merrily down the slope of the green to 20ft away. His birdie putt came to a halt a few inches from the cup.
McIlroy is right back in contention as he aims for his first major victory since 2014
But then McIlroy began to charge. He smoked his drive off the 10th tee so that it drew more gasps of admiration from the crowds gathered near the clubhouse. He birdied the 10th, became the first player of the day to birdie the 11th and then escaped a wayward tee shot over Rae’s Creek at the 12th before the next battle between chaos and genius on the par-five 13th.
McIlroy’s drive came to rest in the woods but he decided to go for the green anyway and smashed his second out of the pine straw towards the green. The front of the green is protected by a tributary of Rae’s Creek but McIlroy’s ball bounced over it and came to rest nine feet from the hole.
McIlroy staggered out of the woods, almost bent double, laughing at the audacity of what he had just achieved and thanking the stars for a piece of luck he may have felt was overdue at this course that has dealt him so much heartbreak. He sank the putt for eagle. He escaped a horrendously wayward drive at the 14th, which left him having to carve his way out through an avenue of spectators, with a par. And when he birdied the 15th, where everything had fallen apart on Thursday evening, he was suddenly two shots off Rose, in third place in the tournament.
When DeChambeau dropped a shot on the 16th, McIlroy joined him, albeit briefly, in a share of second and suddenly it seemed as if everything was possible again. Yesterday, at least, his genius had overcome the flirtations with chaos that have cursed him here.
But today is another day. The battle between the angels and the demons that crowd around him at Augusta will rage again.
There will be more soap operas and there will be more dramas and if McIlroy is to end tomorrow as only the sixth player, after Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, to complete the Grand Slam, his genius will have to retain the upper hand.
