"You're Rory McIlroy, what the fuck are you doing?"
Those were the words of caddie JP Fitzgerald yesterday that reignited McIlroy's challenge for a second ever Claret Jug.
After a stinker of a front nine on Thursday, including five bogeys in his opening six holes, the 28-year-old steadied the ship and let loose on the back nine.
In favourable conditions he shot a bogey-free back nine, picking up four birdies to sign for a +1 round.
With the wind in his sails and absent from the course, McIlroy began his second round full of confidence and showed just that as he surged ahead of the early challengers.
Birdies on one, three and six helped him scale the leaderboard to move within the top 10 for his front nine. With conditions worsening around the turn bogeys on 13 and 15 set him back to level par.
WATCH: @McIlroyRory knocks in a birdie at the 17th! 🐦 Live on Sky Sports The Open. Brought to you by @TaylorMadeTour https://t.co/cOggi13TDp
— Sky Sports Golf (@SkySportsGolf) July 21, 2017
But McIlroy was determined to keep himself among the chasing pack and a birdie on the 17th saw him sign off for a second round 68 and a score of -1 for the tournament heading into the weekend.
I got off to a good start which was really, really important today. The back nine was playing difficult so to birdie three of the first six gave me a little bit of a cushion to play with.
To be in after two days and to be under par, after how I started yesterday, I'm ecstatic with that.
To put his round today in perspective, McIlroy went 24 holes without dropping a shot stretching back his last bogey during his opening round.
The 18 holes following that bogey on six in the first round saw the Holywood golfer score a bogey-free round of 63!
A staggering turnaround for the four-time Major winner. With the wind set to pick up and conditions set to worsen during Friday afternoon, McIlroy has put himself firmly back into the hunt.
Signing off on his second round, McIlroy sat four shots behind American duo Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka.
