Rory McIlroy hopes ‘benign’ conditions can get his Open challenge back on track

By Carl Markham, Press Association

Rory McIlroy was hoping to benefit from the more favourable side of the second-round draw at The Open to get his tournament back on track at Royal Birkdale.

The Masters champion, two over par and seven shots off the pace set by unknown American Jackson Suber, found the afternoon conditions on Thursday – with a stronger wind and crustier greens – testing.

“I’m not too far away. If you look at the discrepancy between the scoring this morning and the scoring this afternoon, it looks like that’s going to be flipped with the conditions again,” he said after his round of 72 in which he struggled with the putter.

“Hopefully I can take advantage of the more benign conditions in the morning and shoot one under par and get back in it.”

The skies may have been cloudier than on day one but the early starters needed to take advantage, with the wind out of the east negligible again and the early-morning dew making the course a little more forgiving.

Among those looking to do so were McIlroy’s playing partners Matt Fitzpatrick (also two over) and 2024 champion Xander Schauffele (one over), US PGA champion Aaron Rai (one over) and US Open champion Wyndham Clark (three over).

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Tiger Christensen, out in the first group at 6.35am, gave an early indication of what was possible with birdies at his first two holes – which got him back to three over.

Suber, world number 115 with career-best finish of fourth in last month’s Canadian Open, had an early chance to prove his opening 65 was no fluke as he was out at 7.30am.