A crowd has formed at The Barclays, and it’s a good one.
For Friday’s second round of this opening leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs, the sky around Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J., was overcast with ominous clouds — and yet the expected rains never came. The same could be said for the state of the tournament, which teetered on losing its big names, but instead gathered a bunch near the top of the leaderboard, and could set up for an entertaining weekend.
Getting into prime position was Adam Scott. The 33-year-old Australian shot a splendid six-under 65, giving him a share of the halfway lead with Cameron Tringale, both at 8-under. They hold a one-shot edge over the three-man group of Kevin Chappell, Brendon Todd and Jim Furyk.
Yet there are 15 players within three shots of the lead, and 38 players within five, with some of the best golfers in the world lurking just within striking distance.
To scroll down that list, it’s hard to miss the biggest name in the game not named Tiger — Rory McIlroy, who easily bounced back from his opening-round 74 and shot a six-under 65 that brought a difficult golf course to its knees.
“I knew that my game was there,” said McIlroy, who came in having won three consecutive tournaments and the previous two major championships. “I just needed to take advantage of the chances I was giving myself.”
The 25-year-old from Northern Ireland continued his recent display of otherworldly driving, reaching both of the back-nine par-5s in two — holes Phil Mickelson called “not reachable.” McIlroy smoked a 3-wood off the fairway at the 626-yard 13th hole just past the hole location, then executed a slippery up-and-down from the rough for one of his six birdies on the day to go along with no bogies.
“I was asked [Thursday] after I played if [I was] going to battle to make the cut or whatever, and I said missing the cut isn’t an option,” McIlroy said. “I know how well I’m playing and how comfortable I am with my game, so even to miss a cut feeling like that would have felt really bad.”
McIlroy has had a whirlwind week leading up to this tournament. He hardly was able to practice at all with all of the publicity appearances he has made coming off his British Open and PGA Championship victories. Yet after Thursday’s disappointment, he hit balls on the driving range for about 45 minutes, and the rust fell off rather quickly.
“It didn’t take long,” he said. “Just to sort of try to get back into the rhythm. It felt good.”
If McIlroy continues to feel good, the five shots between him and the lead seem rather small. As much as Scott admitted McIlroy’s play as of late has inspired him to step up his own game, there is still an overwhelming sense all those near the lead are going to be looking up on Saturday, wondering where McIlroy is.
“I think you’ve got to draw motivation from wherever you can,” Scott said. “I’m not afraid to say that I look at the way [McIlroy] played and I want that to be me. And I feel that I can play like that and have runs like that.You’ve got to learn from the best and he’s one of them.”
There are also the likes of Ernie Els (6-under), Hunter Mahan (5-under), Graeme McDowell (4-under), Justin Rose (4-under), Matt Kuchar (4-under) and Bubba Watson (4-under) in contention. Even Mickelson managed to birdie his last hole of the day to get to 1-over for the tournament and make the cut right on the number.
“It’s a very bunched leaderboard,” McIlroy said. “There are a lot of quality players there on the leaderboard. So I’m going to have to shoot a couple of rounds similar to [Friday] to maybe win this thing.”