When Rory McIlroy completed his second round at The Open Championship, it appeared that there was a very good chance that he was going to find himself in contention heading into the weekend at Royal Portrush.
There is no question at all that Rory McIlroy has enjoyed a much better week at The Open Championship so far. His previous visit at Royal Portrush ended at the halfway stage of the tournament after a nightmare start.
Not only has he made the cut, but he currently finds himself tied for 12th. He is three under par for the tournament.
But the big question concerning McIlroy heading into the third round is whether he can still win.
Pundits assess whether Rory McIlroy can still win The Open Championship
The 36-year-old is currently seven shots off the lead in Northern Ireland. That is a challenge which seems daunting enough.
But when you consider that it is Scottie Scheffler who tops the leaderboard right now, the challenge seems to become twice as difficult. The world number one produced the best major round of his career on Friday to take charge.
Interestingly, there seems to be a mixed feeling regarding whether McIlroy could still win. Wayne Riley was asked on Sky Sports whether he could still go on and win his second Claret Jug this week.
“100%. Rory McIlroy is still in this but he needs help. He needs help from Scottie Scheffler. He needs to go out there tomorrow, and if it’s six miles per hour [winds], he is going to be out there early and he needs to shoot a seven under,” he said.
“He needs to get himself to where Scottie is right now and hope Scottie has a bad day. Or even if Scottie has a decent day, he goes out and scores four under. He needs to get within five and then make a Rory McIlroy charge and there is no-one better in the business than Rory McIlroy at making a charge on Sunday, he has done it time and time again.”
Elsewhere, Rex Hoggard suggested on the Golf Channel Podcast that he struggles to see anyone as far back as McIlroy managing to catch the PGA Championship winner.
“If it was anyone else not named Scottie Scheffler at 10 under par and Rory was at three under par I would say it was feasible given what Rory could possibly do over the course of the weekend,” he said.
“Rory got past the hard part. He got past the first tee and was three strokes better, he was five strokes better today! He made a birdie. He made the cut, he got past that hard part.
“But now that’s a mountain I don’t think anybody can climb. That’s no disrespect to anybody. But Scottie Scheffler when he is on form like this, the only chance they have is if Scottie comes back, and give me an example of Scottie ever coming back.”
Why Rory McIlroy can take positives from his second and third rounds at The Masters
McIlroy can take some positives from his victory at The Masters earlier in the year. Admittedly, he was only two shots off the lead at the halfway mark at Augusta National.
However, he was seven shots adrift after the first round. And within two rounds, he was leading by two with 18 holes to play.
It was not Scheffler at the top of the leaderboard on Thursday at The Masters. But the world number one will not fly away from the field if he has a cold day with the putter on Saturday.
If McIlroy can get some early birdies on the board, there is a fantastic opportunity for the five-time major champion to really kick his tournament into life.
It is exciting to think of what the atmosphere will be like if McIlroy really puts himself in contention over the next two days.
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