Rory McIlroy Makes Masters Tournament History With Impressive Round 2 Performance

Rory McIlroy carded 9 birdies in Round 2 of the Masters Tournament and finished with a score of 7-under 65.

Rory McIlroy Makes Masters Tournament History With Impressive Round 2 Performance

Rory McIlroy (Image via X/@DPWorldTour)

The title defense could not have started better for Rory McIlroy. Following an opening round score of 5-under 67, the golfer carded another low round score of 7-under 65 to sit comfortably on top of the leaderboard.

The World No.2 finally got his hands on the green jacket last year after all his struggles and heartbreaks in the past. A playoff victory over Justin Rose made him just the 6th golfer to claim all 4 major titles.

This year, he entered the Augusta National as the defending champion and was hoping to do something that had not been done since the 2002 Masters. That year, Tiger Woods claimed his 2nd successive win and became the third player after Jack Nicklaus (1965, 1966) and Sir Nick Faldo (1989, 1990) to go back-to-back in this event.

McIlroy is now halfway there. After 3 birdies on holes 2, 3 and 4, he bogeyed the 5th hole. Another bogey on the 10th hole saw him go 1-under par for the day. After this, he got hot.

Two successive birdies on holes 12 and 13 saw him once again go 3-under par for the day. After recording a par on the 14th hole, the 36-year-old fired 4 consecutive birdies on Holes 15, 16, 17 and 18 to close the day with a 7-under par score.

This saw him open up a 6-shot lead in the Masters. This is the largest 36-hole lead in the competition’s history.

Before this, the largest 36-hole lead in the Masters Tournament was 5-shots. This had been done six times in history, most recently by Scottie Scheffler in 2022, who then went on to win the event, finishing 3-shots ahead of McIlroy. Only Harry Cooper, all the way back in 1936, did not go on to win the tournament.

A day before this historic showing, 1992 winner Fred Couples joked about how McIlroy may never lose this thing again. This showing has put him on the course of a historic back-to-back triumph.

Rory McIlroy not getting ahead of himself following historic start to title defense

Rory McIlroy seems to be running away with the 2026 Masters Tournament. After a score of 65 on Friday, the reigning champion opened up a 6-shot lead. The golfer, however, knows the job is not done yet and is not getting ahead of himself.

Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy (Image via Instagram/@pgatour)

The Masters Tournament has seen some major collapses in the final round. In 1996, Greg Norman had a 6-shot lead heading into the final round. However, the Australian international suffered a major slip on Sunday.

He posted a score of 78 and finished 5 shots behind Sir Nick Faldo at 7-under and had to settle for a runner-up finish. This is considered as one of the biggest collapses in golf.

20 years later, in 2016, there was another collapse in the final round of the Masters. Jordan Spieth, who was the defending champion, had a 5-shot lead heading into the back nine. Following a quadruple-bogey on the 12th hole, his lead slipped up.

Eventually, the American golfer finished 3-shots behind Danny Willett. Till date, this is Willett’s only victory on the PGA Tour circuit.

McIlroy, himself knows how things can change in a flash in this event. In 2011, he had a 2-shot lead after 36-holes and extended it to 4 after 54-holes.

A triple bogey on the 10th was followed by a bogey on the 11th and a double bogey on the 12th. The Northern Irish golfer eventually shot a score of 80 and fell outside of the top-10.

I know what can happen around here, good and bad. You don’t have to remind me not to get ahead of myself. There’s a long way to go. I got off to an amazing start.

Rory McIlroy told the reporters

Sam Burns and Patrick Reed currently sit T2 while being 6-under par for the tournament. Just behind them are Justin Rose, Shane Lowry and Tommy Fleetwood, who are 5-under par. Unless something dramatic happens, McIlroy will be wearing the green jacket again on Sunday.

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