Magical McIlroy breaks new ground

Golf:Not content with running away from the rest of the field at the Congressional Club, Rory McIlroy carved out his own place in US Open history with another breathtaking performance in Washington. This championship is the toughest challenge in world golf – McIlroy reduced it to mere child's play.

On the 17th green of today’s second round, McIlroy became the first player in US Open history to reach 13 under par, breaking a record held by Tiger Woods. That the youngster promptly double bogeyed the next, his first dropped shots of the tournament, mattered not a jot for at 11 under par he led by a massive eight shots.

The late blemish on an otherwise flawless card might have rankled, but McIlroy can be immensely proud after producing 35 holes of awesome golf. YE Yang, who had yet to start his second round, remained his closest challenger on three under while Sergio Garcia, Zach Johnson and Robert Garrigus were in the clubhouse on two under.

After 17 holes McIlroy was in dreamland, the first player ever in the event to reach 13 under and lapping the field 10 shots clear. But then came a hook into the rough and a second that curled into the lake on the left of the demanding 523-yard par-four last.

Signing for a 66 to add to his opening 65 did not stop him still entering the US Open record books – his score was the lowest 36-hole total in history - but a par four would have made him the first player in the history of any major championship to break 130 for the first two days.

The young Ryder Cup star, trying to keep the trophy in Irish hands following Graeme McDowell’s victory last year, is a few months younger than Jack Nicklaus was when he lifted the first of his 18 majors in 1962 and would be the youngest person to lift the trophy since another legend of golf — amateur Bobby Jones — in 1923.

Resuming three clear, he made a 25-footer at the fourth and pitched over water to six feet for another birdie on the long sixth.

But it was at the 354-yard eighth where playing partner Phil Mickelson simply had to stand and applaud. That was for a 113-yard approach that spin into the cup for an eagle two — and made him the first player in the event to reach 10 under in the second round.

It also took the world number eight into an almost unimaginable seven-stroke lead over the game’s greatest players — minus Tiger Woods, of course.

And that chasm expanded to eight after he hit his approach to four feet at the 467-yard 14th, to nine when he just missed a 10-foot eagle chance at the 579-yard 16th and to 10 with a 12-footer on the next.

McIlroy said: “It’s been very near the best I can play. The second on the eighth was a bonus, but I hit a couple of iron shots on the back nine that were so pure.

“I’m halfway there, but there’s still a long way to go. It’s a big challenge, but every time I put myself in position I am becoming more and more comfortable and that’s important. I felt very much at ease today — you are when you hit so many good shots.”

With the disappointing finish he had to wait to see if he had still established a record halfway lead. For the event that was the six that Woods held at Pebble Beach in 2000 — he went on to a record 15-shot victory — and for all majors it was the nine of Henry Cotton at Sandwich in 1934.

One thing McIlroy would not want to be reminded of, though, was what happened to Gil Morgan at Pebble Beach in 1992. In a championship that started in 1895 nobody reached 10 under until Morgan did it at the third round of his third round.

The American led by seven at 12 under after seven holes of his third round, but then dropped eight shots that day, finished with an 81 and came 13th eight strokes behind Tom Kite.

McIlroy’s performance, of course, was coming only two months after he went from four ahead to 10 behind with a nightmare closing 80 at the Masters. It was also only last July that he followed an opening 63 in the Open at St Andrews with another 80, but so far he was almost lapping the field here.

The slip-up on the 36th hole was the first time he had dropped shots all week. Of the early starters the next best in the clubhouse were Spain’s Garcia and Americans Johnson and Garrigus on two under, nine adrift.

Five-time runner-up Mickelson would have been alongside them if he had birdied the last — and that after starting the day 62nd — but he also found water and double-bogeyed for “only” a 69 and one over total.

Garcia said after his 71: “I don’t think I played very good today. I would love to have played much better because three or four under was very possible. Rory has just played great — as simple as that. He is a wonderful player and very nice kid. It would be nice for him to win even if Augusta had not happened.”

McIlroy’s lead was cut to six when Yang hit his tee shot — with a fairway wood - to six feet on the seventh and then rolled in a curling 20-footer two holes later.

He was out in a bogey-free 34, but had the tougher half to come and had to wait to play it because play was suspended just after 4pm (9pm Irish time) because of an approaching storm.

Yang made his first mistake when he badly missed the green left on the 11th. It cost him a bogey and after coming back with a six-foot birdie he was wild again at the short 13th. A second dropped shot there returned him to four under and put McIlroy seven in front again.

With five and six to play respectively Padraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell remained level par, but Luke Donald bogeyed the 12th after driving into sand to be back to one over, one better than Lee Westwood.