– Robert MacIntyre (-14) is currently playing a different game at the BMW Championship, the second playoff of the FedEx Cup. The Scot’s 62 in the first round was followed by a 64 in the second, reinforcing his solo lead to the point of having a five-shot advantage over his closest pursuer, who, as it happens, is the World Number One, Scottie Scheffler (-9).
– MacIntyre maintained a good level on the greens compared to Thursday, although not identical, because it was simply impossible (in the first round he holed up to four birdie putts from beyond five metres). Today, in any case, as the player expressed just after finishing this second round, he was more accurate with the irons and signed a bogey-free card. In any case, he remains unassailable on a course, let’s not forget, with a very high level of demand.
– The problem, of course, is that there are still 36 holes ahead. That, and the fact that Scheffler has been unwilling to forgive a victory for several years now, as long as it is reasonably within his grasp to contest it. The Texan also closed a bogey-free round and by the 12th hole had set an outstanding scoring pace, which even raised suspicions as to whether he would be able to break away with the Scot in a head-to-head race to the finish, but he was going to finish the round with a slightly colder putter and six pars. It is clear that no one, since Tiger, has lorded over his Number One status with such persistence, solidity, and excellence.
– A Ryder detail: the BMW leaves us after two rounds with a reassuring (and even comforting) leaderboard for the European captain, Luke Donald, as the days start to count down to the big event at Bethpage. Almost half of the continental squad is currently within the top eleven, with MacIntyre leading, Ludvig Aberg (-8) in third position after matching the best score of the day (64), along with Tommy Fleetwood (-6), Viktor Hovland (-5), and Rory McIlroy (-4), who today did indeed provide a notable response to Scheffler in the featured match.
– (Let’s open a parenthesis here to propose a naive but fun game: today, in match play format, Rory would have had the putt on the 18th hole to tie his match with Scheffler, who would eventually win it by one up. Obviously, it’s a bit tricky to whimsically turn a stroke play round into match play, and besides, a scenario like the Ryder is simply irreproducible, much less in the second round of a tournament, whatever it may be).
– Aberg’s season is being impeccable, and there is his current 13th place in the FedEx to certify it. But he has lacked brilliance and punch. That’s why his candidacy for victory this week, with MacIntyre’s permission, is especially stimulating in Ryder terms. Let’s see where he ends up. Something similar could be noted about Hovland.
– After this second round, there are two players who arrived outside the top thirty, those who will compete in the Tour Championship next week, and are now inside: Michael Kim (-6) and Harry Hall (-5), while the two who would drop out are Akshay Bhatia (+4) and Lucas Glover (+8).
