Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry sit six shots back of the lead at the Zurich Classic and The Masters champion has admitted what could be really tough about the next round this weekend.
McIlroy and Lowry started brilliantly and had five birdies and an eagle by the time they walked off the 12th hole.
However, they then bogeyed three of the last six holes, including the par five last, to leave them adrift of the summit and facing an uphill task to retain their championship from last year.
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Of course, McIlroy is riding high from his win at Augusta National while Lowry is clearly comfortable playing with one of his best friends.
Still, McIlroy believes the third round could be a huge test and he’s admitted that it could well see him and Lowry go chasing things a bit.
Rory McIlroy gives honest verdict after round two of the Zurich Classic
While McIlroy and Lowry are the two star names on the board at the Zurich Classic, making six shots up on the leaders is going to be a tough old ask.
With the format changing back to fourballs, we can expect some low scores to be posted and that, in turn, will put the pressure on McIlroy and Lowry to be among the teams going low.
And according to McIlroy, having to play catch up could be make things hard for him in terms of keeping patient.
“We were six under through 12 and cruising and then a bit of a bad finish but I didn’t feel like we played that badly to have the finish that we did. A couple of loose shots here and there,” McIlroy admitted after round two.
“Tomorrow it will be hard to stay patient because the fourball format you just have to try to make as many birdies as you can.”
Greens in regulation key for McIlroy and Lowry
If two players in the field can haul everyone back towards them, then it’s Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry.
With six majors between them and so much experience, they’ll know how to navigate such a tournament and get over the line if it comes down to it.
However, they have got to stop making mistakes. McIlroy missed the green on 13 which started the rot before both players contributed to not hitting GIR on the final two holes.
That cost them three shots as a team and over the course of any tournament, that is going to be punishing on the scorecard.
For McIlroy and Lowry to really get back into this, they have just got to start hitting greens in regulation more and ensuring the silly mistakes are cut out.
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