{"id":283060,"date":"2025-04-16T04:00:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T04:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/16\/mcilroy-hovland-avoid-blunders-to-share-british-open-lead\/"},"modified":"2025-04-16T04:00:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T04:00:18","slug":"mcilroy-hovland-avoid-blunders-to-share-british-open-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/16\/mcilroy-hovland-avoid-blunders-to-share-british-open-lead\/","title":{"rendered":"McIlroy, Hovland avoid blunders to share British Open lead"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"McIlroy,<\/div>


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Cheers from every corner of the Old Course that belonged to Tiger Woods for two days at St. Andrews switched over to Rory McIlroy in the British Open, and he certainly did his part to give them what came to see.<\/p>\n

McIlroy holed a bunker shot for eagle on the 10th hole that he described as part skill and part luck, but it was pure magic. He showed discipline to know when to aim away from the flag, and to take bogey when he was stuck between a wall and a road behind the 17th green on Saturday.<\/p>\n

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McIlroy now shares the stage at the home of golf with Viktor Hovland, the emerging Norwegian star who was every bit as good in making birdies and avoiding the blunders that cost so many other potential contenders.<\/p>\n

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Both made birdie on the final hole for a 6-under 66. No one else was closer than four shots. They have the same score at 16-under 200, though the support is one-sided.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re chanting his name out there. I think he\u2019s definitely a crowd favorite,\u201d Masters champion Scottie Scheffler said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can you not root for Rory?\u201d<\/p>\n

McIlroy is one round away from ending eight long years without a major. He wants to stay in his world without ignoring the support raining down on him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s appreciating the moment as well and appreciating the fact that it\u2019s unbelievably cool to have a chance to win The Open at St Andrews,\u201d McIlroy said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s what dreams are made of. And I\u2019m going to try to make a dream come true tomorrow.\u201d Hovland, already with six victories worldwide in his four years since leaving Oklahoma State as a U.S. Amateur champion, could appreciate the support for McIlroy and all he has done. He played mistake-free and sounded as though he were up for the task.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going against one of the best players in the world and I\u2019m certainly not going to hold back, because he\u2019s certainly not,\u201d Hovland said.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t a two-man race, even if it felt that way as the Old Course emptied and bagpipes began to skirl at the end of the day.<\/p>\n

Cameron Smith, who started with a two-shot lead, took double bogey on the 13th hole when he tried a bold play with his feet in a pot bunker. Cameron Young went over the 16th green and then back down the other side for a double bogey on the 16th hole.<\/p>\n

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They were four shots behind, still in the game. Two-time major champion Dustin Johnson, the best candidate from the Saudi-funded LIV Golf league to claim this major, putted across the green and into a bunker for one of three bogeys on the back nine. He fell six shots behind.<\/p>\n

McIlroy and Hovland had no such trouble<\/h4>\n

Hovland holed a pair of 40-foot putts on his way to four straight birdies on the front nine to seize the lead. McIlroy finally caught him by holing out from a pot bunker some 80 feet away for eagle on the 10th hole, setting off a roar that could be heard all the way back at the Royal & Ancient clubhouse.<\/p>\n

McIlroy only a day earlier tipped his cap to Woods as he started his second round and Woods was on his way to missing the cut, crossing the Swilcan Bridge for what might have been last time. The R&A set the tee times that way so they would pass each other.<\/p>\n

Woods stands alone in driving the sport, though McIlroy is the most popular worldwide, and it sounded like that \u2014 on the first tee when McIlroy was introduced, for every birdie, and when he took the lead for the first time with a birdie on the 14th.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI love that I\u2019ve got so much support,\u201d McIlroy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut at the same time, I need to keep in my own little world and try to play a good round of golf. Hopefully, that\u2019s enough.\u201d His lone mistake was coming out of the left rough and over the 17th green, across the road and near the stone wall. He played a safe pitch onto the green and two-putted for bogey.<\/p>\n

Hovland, bogey-free for the round, showed off some magic of his own on the 17th by putting off the dirt path just short of the road, up the hill to about 5 feet for a par.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never been in a bigger spot in my career,\u201d Hovland said. He sounded up to the task, and the popular Norwegian also saw \u2014 and heard \u2014 what he will be up against Sunday.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI get a couple in there,\u201d he said of the cheers so heavily slanted toward McIlroy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m probably an underdog, but I don\u2019t mind that at all. Hopefully, we can push ourselves tomorrow.\u201d Smith missed a short birdie chance on the 18th and had a 73. His biggest mistake was not getting the ball back in play on the 13th, instead trying to advance the ball and getting into tough spots. He also three-putted from 30 feet to start his round and made just two birdies.<\/p>\n

Young, the PGA Tour rookie who finished one shot out of a playoff at the PGA Championship two months ago, had a 71.<\/p>\n

Scheffler was lurking after a 69. He missed a 10-foot birdie chance on the 16th and then three-putted the 17th for a bogey. Scheffler, who finished one shot behind in the U.S. Open, had a 69 and was five back along with Si Woo Kim (67).<\/p>\n

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Johnson also within three shots until a bogey on the 13th and another on the par-5 14th, where his long eagle putt raced up a hill, across the green and into a pot bunker. Instead of birdie, he had to scramble for bogey. He dropped two more shots coming in for a 71 and was six behind.<\/p>\n

McIlroy last won a major in 2014 at the PGA Championship at Valhalla. He would love nothing more than to win at the home of golf, on the Old Course where Jack Nicklaus once said a player\u2019s career would not be complete without winning a claret jug at St. Andrews.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery part of my game has felt good this week,\u201d McIlroy said.\u00a0\u201cI just need to keep it going for one more day.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n