School drop, fly to Augusta, home for dinner: Rory McIlroy’s scouting trips pay off at Masters
Rory McIlroy has explained how scouting trips to Augusta National in the weeks leading up to the Masters have played a significant role in his domination of this staging of the major.McIlroy’s second round of 65 – which included six birdies in the closing seven holes – set a Masters record, with the defending champion the first man to lead the tournament by six at the halfway point.Entering the Masters, it was assumed McIlroy’s three-week break from PGA Tour business was to conserve energy.Instead, he made smart use of his private jet as he looks to become just the fourth golfer to win back-to-back Masters titles.“I honestly just don’t like the three tournaments leading up to this event,” said McIlroy with only half a smile.
“I’d rather come up here.I did a couple of days where I dropped [daughter] Poppy to school, flew up here, played, landed back home and had dinner with Poppy and [wife] Erica.I did a couple of day trips like that where I felt it was a better use of my time than going to Houston or San Antonio.It wasn’t really about conserving energy, but just I felt the more time I could spend up here, the better.“I’ve been on this golf course so much the last three weeks.
That has been a combination of practice and chipping and putting around greens, and then just playing one ball and shooting scores and ending up in weird places that you maybe never find yourself and just trying to figure it out,I think just spending so much time up here has been a big part of it,”McIlroy insisted the margin of his advantage will not play a big part in his psychology from round three,He will have Sam Burns for company on Saturday, with Patrick Reed and Justin Rose in the penultimate group,“Look, I’ve built up a nice cushion at this point,” he added.
“I guess my mindset is just trying to keep playing well and keeping my foot on the gas.“I just want to go out and play two good rounds again.Obviously this golf course has certain characteristics that guys can get on runs, guys can make eagles, you hear roars all over the golf course.“I think the next two days for me is really about focusing on myself.It’s hard to avoid those big leaderboards out there but I know that I’ve got a lead.
I don’t need to keep checking it all the time,So for me, just really focusing on myself and staying in my own little world out there is the best thing,”McIlroy denied the sense he appears intimidating to other golfers,“No, that’s not me,” he said,“That’s not what I want to do.
Honestly, I don’t care,Golf is the most amazing game because it’s you and your golf ball and the golf course and that’s it,You shouldn’t be affected by anyone else,”
The Masters day two: Rory McIlroy bursts into six-shot lead – as it happened
Here’s Ewan Murray’s report live from Augusta. That’s it for the blog today. Thanks for reading and join us again for Saturday’s third round.A calm and relaxed Rory McIlroy reflects on his stunning start. Asked to explain it, the defending champions pauses for thought and then hits his stride
Rory McIlroy surges into six-shot Masters lead with stunning second-round flourish
After spending 16 years as the hunter, Rory McIlroy is relishing his position as the hunted. The defending Masters champion has reached the halfway point of the 2026 staging in a style that asserts his desperation to hang on to the Green Jacket. Elk, served as sliders in the 36-year-old’s champions dinner on Tuesday evening, were seen diving for cover in mountainous regions as McIlroy placed daylight between himself and pretenders to his throne.McIlroy won at Augusta National in 2025 and eventually discovered that was not his final career destination after all. He is now 36 holes from becoming only the fourth man in history to back up a Masters win with a Masters win
Justin Rose struggles to keep his cool in the heat but Masters dream lives on | Andy Bull
Hot days and hard greens at the Masters. It was up in the mid- 80s by lunchtime on Friday, and that was if you were underneath the trees with a Georgia peach ice-cream sandwich. Out there on the other side of the ropes it looked a whole lot hotter again. The world’s best golfers sweated away chasing after Rory McIlroy’s lead in conditions which, they all agreed, could yet get as tough as they come at Augusta National. By midway through the afternoon McIlroy loomed over the tournament like the Augusta sun, and you worried players who made the mistake of looking right at the big white leaderboards might burn their eyes on the numbers he was running up
Bath hit back to reach semi-final after stunning Northampton in 11-try epic
There are big games and then there are contests which define entire campaigns. And when the moment came it was Bath who just had enough turbo thrust to propel themselves into the Champions Cup semi-finals for the first time in 20 years. There is little to separate the two best teams in England and this was another endlessly compelling battle of wits and wills, ultimately settled by a 76th-minute try by Bath’s replacement forward Ted Hill.Plenty of work still has to be done to reach the final in Bilbao next month with Johann van Graan’s side now facing the winners of Sunday’s mouthwatering all-French tie between Bordeaux and Toulouse. This was a truly sensational hors d’oeuvre, though, with nine tries in the first half alone
MacIntyre dodges Masters media for second day after first-round outbursts
Robert MacIntyre declined interview requests for a second Masters day in succession, with the fiery Scot facing a reprimand from Augusta National over his behaviour in the closing stages of round one.MacIntyre’s miserable visit to Georgia concluded with a 71, which ensured he missed the cut at seven over par. The key damage had been done on Thursday, when MacIntyre slumped to an 80 which included a quadruple bogey nine at the 15th.The player’s reaction there, and elsewhere on the back nine, will inevitably lead to Masters officials having a stern word with the world No 8. Live television coverage picked up MacIntyre releasing a series of expletives
Pope adds to Smith’s mass of Surrey runs with England woes a world away
Midway through its fifth day of action, the first of its second round of fixtures, Ollie Pope became the 11th person to score a century in Division One of the County Championship this season – and five of those play for Surrey. Jamie Smith already has two. The pre-season title favourites may have drawn their opening game but they are looking ominous, in this game and in general, and at stumps were 412 for six.Things also look ominous for Leicestershire, if in a rather different way, as they settle into the top flight after last year’s promotion. Beaten by Sussex in their season opener, by the second session here, as Smith and Pope cantered towards triple figures, they looked equally underresourced in confidence, ideas and quality
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