The Open Championship 2023 second round is finally completed, and 2014 champion Rory McIlroy has made the cut. He currently stands tall in the T11 rank on the leaderboard and is nine strokes behind the table-topper Brian Harman.
McIlroy came into the competition with a win at Genesis Scottish Open and was dubbed as the favorite to win. He did not disappoint as he finished well on the leaderboard after the second round of play at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club.
How did Rory McIlroy perform in the first and second rounds of the Open Championship 2023?
Current world no. 2 Rory McIlroy looked in fine touch when he started his play at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club on Thursday. The Northern Irish golfer carded a score of par 71 with the help of three birdies and three bogeys. He finished his first-round play on the T32 rank on the leaderboard.
However, on Friday, McIlroy started his second round with a birdie, which was followed by three consecutive pars. At the end of his day's play, he carded a decent score of 1 under 71 with the help of three birdies and two bogeys.
Rory McIlroy had a terrible outing at Augusta National earlier this year in the Masters 2023. However, he managed to pull out exceptional performance in the following majors, the PGA Championship and the US Open.
He finished T7 in the second major at the Oak Hill Country Club. Later on, in the third major, the US Open, he finished runner-up to Wyndham Clark, losing by a margin of merely one stroke.
The four-time major winner must be looking to end his nine-year of major win drought in The Open Championship 2023 at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club. To overcome this, he has to pull out some sensational shots to cover the nine-shot lead that the leader, Brian Harman, has right now.
Exploring the Open Championship 2023 leaderboard after the second round
The Open Championship 2023 leaderboard is currently led by Brian Harman, who is five strokes ahead of no. 2 Tommy Fleetwood. Day 1 leaderboard topper Christo Lamprecht slipped to the T62 position and barely managed to make the cut in the Open Championship 2023.
Here are the top 25 players on the leaderboard:
- 1 - Brian Harman
- 2 - Tommy Fleetwood
- 3 - Sepp Straka
- T4 - Jason Day
- T4 - Shubhankar Sharma
- T4 - Min Woo Lee
- T7 - Jordan Spieth
- T7 - Adrian Otaegui
- T7 - Emiliano Grillo
- T7 - Cameron Young
- T11 - Rory McIlroy
- T11 - Stewart Cink
- T11 - Henrik Stenson
- T11 - Richard Bland
- T11 - Laurie Canter
- T11 - Matthew Southgate
- T11 - Michael Stewart
- T11 - Max Homa
- T11 - Thriston Lawrence
- T11 - Guido Migliozzi
- T11 - Wyndham Clark
- T11 - Nicolai Hojgaard
- T11 - Antoine Rozner
- T11 - Matthew Jordan
- T25 - Marcel Siem
- T25 - Hideki Matsuyama
- T25 - Joo-hyung Kim
- T25 - Viktor Hovland
- T25 - Alexander Bjork
US Open 2023 champion Wyndham Clark and runner-up Rory McIlroy hang on tied for 11 positions. Masters 2023 Champion Jon Rahm had a forgettable second round, as he finished in T39 rank. Meanwhile, PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka finished in T62 rank, barely managing to make the cut.