Rory McIlroy will go back to his hotel room Friday night thinking that he let a good round get away.
McIlroy followed up his first round 67 with a 68 and finds himself three back of leader Graeme Storm at the South African Open.
McIlroy had plenty of good in his second round but enough bad to cancel out what could have been. Seven birdies and an eagle was a good afternoon of work but a double-bogey six at the second hole then a sloppy bogey-bogey finish left McIlroy at nine-under par.
Storm didn’t do much wrong in his round that saw him shoot a nine-under par 63. He’s at 12-under, two better than American Peter Uihlein, first round leader Trevor Fisher Jr. and Jbe Kruger. Uihlein had the day’s second best round — and eight-under par 64.
McIlroy found himself just a shot off the lead with two holes to play but at the 225-yard par three 17th, his tee shot sailed long and he failed to get up-and-down for par, missing from 10 feet.
At the 18th, McIlroy hit a perfect drive and had just an easy wedge into the green but he chunked it badly and buried it in a front bunker. His long bunker shot went 15 feet past the pin and he would end up with a closing five.
After the round, McIlroy revealed that he tweaked his back before the start of his round and momentarily throught about withdrawing. He decided against it. “The first few shots today weren’t very comfortable.”
