Rory McIlroy (-5) was the best this Thursday at Pinehurst No.2. Beyond the result that dictates it, tied for the lead of the US Open with Patrick Cantlay, the Northern Irishman has put on a display of power, forcefulness and determination on the North Carolina mat. He has played like the angels from the tee and is the one who has most often and most accurately skipped the unwritten law that you do not aim for the flag here.
McIlroy has been temperate, but aggressive. No one has sought the rag more than the Northern Irishman. With a head, of course, but with determination. If it was the club, there it went. He has putted for birdie up to thirteen times under nine meters. That is a luxury. But there is more. Under seven meters, nine times. This is outrageous. You have to be very fine with the irons to look for these shots and execute them with this precision. Today McIlroy has disguised himself as a brave bull and has gone for the red rags of the USGA.
Really, he has only had one chance to make a bogey. It was on hole 8. He missed the green, the only one of the day, and had to sink a two and a half meter putt for par. It was the happiest version of Roryland. His great performance at Pinehurst was crowned by sinking a birdie on a sensational approach at 5, from about twenty meters, and finishing his masterpiece with a great birdie at 18 from just under six.
This is the third time McIlroy has started a US Open with a 65-stroke card. The first was at Congressional in 2011 and he won by a landslide. The second was last year in Los Angeles and he finished second, dying on the shore against Wyndham Clark. If anyone has shown the possibility of emulating Martin Kaymer in 2014, who won with an eight-stroke lead, that has been McIlroy.
Rory ties with Cantlay in a US Open head that gets very interesting, with Aberg one stroke behind, DeChambeau and Pavon two behind and Hatton and Finau three behind. A classification that looks magnificent.
Meanwhile, honors also, although of another kind, for Xander Schauffele (PAR) and Scottie Scheffler (+1). They have saved a day in which they were headed for the abyss. They have suffered what is not written from the tee, a feeling even more aggravated by playing alongside McIlroy, but they have achieved something more than saving the furniture. They have stayed in the fight, although they will have to straighten their tee shots if they want to have options.
In the chapter of weeping and gnashing of teeth, we must place such illustrious names as Mickelson (+9), Hovland (+8), Theegala (+7), Thomas (+7), Meronk (+5), Zalatoris (+5) or Dustin Johnson (+4). In this group of those who will have to do very well to make the cut, we must include David Puig (+6) and Eugenio López Chacarra (+5), who continues to look very uncomfortable from the tee.
The provisional cut is set at +2 and it is normal for it to close on Friday at +4 or +5.
