Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth are among the leaders at 10-under as the second round resumes after Friday’s rain.
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AUGUSTA, Ga. – Seven years removed from his last major championship and nearly 18 months since his last win, it would be easy for Rory McIlroy to focus on the past. But the two-time FedExCup champion arrives at Augusta National – the final barrier standing between him and the career Grand Slam – with an eye toward the future. “I’m obviously focused on this week, but it’s bigger than that,” McIlroy said in his pre-tournament press conference Tuesday. “It’s a journey, right, and it’s a journey to try to get back to playing the game the way I know that I can play the game.” RELATED: Tee times | Roundtable: Predictions | Power Rankings McIlroy recently added swing coach Pete Cowen to his stable as he tries to break out of a slump brought on by his desire to emulate Bryson DeChambeau’s eye-popping distance. McIlroy has known Cowen since he was a teenager. Their familiarity was a big reason that McIlroy selected Cowen from the cadre of coaches who inhabit a PGA TOUR driving range on a weekly basis. McIlroy’s childhood coach, Michael Bannon, is still part of Team McIlroy, but the COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult for McIlroy to get face time with him. Cowen, meanwhile, has been in the United States for months. While there may be some concern that the Northern Irishman will get bogged down in mechanics under a new coach, McIlroy promises the opposite is true. “I’m actually getting away from a lot of technical thoughts. I’m actually going the other way,” he said. In an attempt to add distance, McIlroy said his swing got too flat and too long. Under Cowen, he wants to gain a better understanding of his swing so he can make quick fixes in the middle of rounds. “When you don’t understand why you’re hitting certain shots, you can become lost and you can start to think of all sorts of stuff. And I felt like every time I was going to the range, I was trying something different,” McIlroy said Tuesday. Cowen is helping McIlroy gain control of his wedge play, as well. His inconsistent distance control with his short irons has often led to squandered scoring opportunities. McIlroy expects to play more “flighted” shots, bringing down his trajectory to better control his ball, and playing more conservatively to eliminate the big number. “I think being a little bit more in control of what I do, … that’s the sort of golfer that I want to be going forward,” he said. The big number has plagued him several times at this tournament. He had a round of 77 or higher in six Masters appearances in a seven-year span (2010-14, ’16). A decade ago, he famously shot a final-round 80 after taking a four-shot lead into the final round. Last year, he rebounded from a first-round 75 to finish T5, shooting 14 under par in his final three rounds. He’s finished in the top 10 in all but one Masters since 2014. He arrives at Augusta National ranked 43rd in the FedExCup, with four top-10s in 11 starts. His recent play has been inconsistent, however. In his last four stroke-play starts, he sandwiched a pair of top-10s between two missed cuts, including a 79-75 showing in his title defense at THE PLAYERS. He did not advance out of his group in the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. McIlroy, 31, hopes his recent past is just prologue to a new chapter in his career, though. “I’m just at the start of a journey here,” he said Tuesday, “that I know will get me back to where I want to be.”
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Webb Simpson celebrated another victory on Father’s Day, this time with a tartan jacket. In a wild sprint to the finish after a three-hour weather delay, Simpson ran off five birdies in a six-hole stretch on the back nine at Harbour Town and closed with a 7-under 64 for a one-shot victory over Abraham Ancer. Simpson won the U.S. Open at Olympic Club in 2012. The U.S. Open has been scheduled to end on Father’s Day every year since 1976, but it was moved to September this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Simpson has also won on Mother’s Day (THE PLAYERS Championship in 2018). The RBC Heritage filled the spot on the schedule and Simpson, now a father of five, became a winner for the second time this year with a record score at Harbour Town. He didn’t have much of a choice with so many low scores on a soft course with little wind. He finished at 22-under 262, breaking by two the tournament record set by Brian Gay in 2009. “It was a crazy day,” Simpson said. “I didn’t get it going until 12 and then the putts started going in and I started getting confident. It’s amazing to be standing here right now.” Simpson, who won the Waste Management Phoenix Open in February, moved to No. 5 in the world. He also moved to the top of the FedExCup standings. It was a tough runner-up finish for Ancer, trying to become the fifth straight winner of the RBC Heritage to capture his first PGA TOUR victory at Harbour Town. He hit all 18 greens in regulation and tied for the lead with a bold fairway metal over the trees to the par-5 15th that set up a two-putt birdie. He also stayed in the game with a birdie on the 17th. Ancer shot 65. There was just no catching Simpson, whose only birdies were on the par 5s on the front nine until he couldn’t miss. He rolled in birdie putts from 10 feet and 20 feet on the 12th and 13th, two-putted for birdie on the 15th and then sealed it with two more birdies from 15 feet and 18 feet. Charles Schwab Challenge winner Daniel Berger also stayed in the mix by chipping in for birdie on the 17th and closing with a 65. Tyrrell Hatton, whose last tournament was his victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, was leading until a poor tee shot led to bogey on the 13th, and bogeys were hard to recover from on this day. He shot 66 and tied for third. Dylan Frittelli had the low score of a tournament filled with them, a 62 that put him in the lead before the final groups even teed off. Justin Thomas had a 63 and tied him. Both knew it wasn’t going to hold up, especially after returning from a storm delay to still conditions and even softer conditions. But it led to a carousel of contenders, and even Brooks Koepka got in the mix. Koepka hit driver on the 331-yard ninth hole that hit on the slope above the bunker and settled 3 feet for his eagle. He birdied the next two to get within one of the lead, but his hopes ended with a 5-foot birdie putt he missed on the par-5 15th. Koepka missed a pair of 5-foot par putts on the front nine. He closed with a 65 and finished seventh, his best result since the Tour Championship. Rory McIlroy closed with a 70 and tied for 41st, his second straight result out of the top 30 after going seven consecutive events worldwide with no finish worse than fifth. The PGA TOUR now heads to the Connecticut for the Travelers Championship.
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