A last-hole gamble backfired on Rory McIlroy as Dustin Johnson stormed into a commanding lead in the second round of the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai yesterday
McIlroy held a two-shot lead after a sparkling opening 65 at the Sheshan club and was three clear when he followed five straight pars with birdies at the sixth, seventh and eighth.
However, the back nine was an entirely different story as McIlroy bogeyed the 11th after catching the face of a fairway bunker with his escape and dropped another shot on the 15th by failing to get up and down from a greenside bunker.
The 24-year-old scrambled pars on the next two holes before his drive on the par-5 18th stopped just a few feet from the lake which runs down the right-hand side of the hole, leaving him 228 yards to the green, all over water.
McIlroy had no hesitation in taking on the shot, but saw his second come up several yards short of the green in the hazard. After taking a penalty drop back on to the fairway, McIlroy hit a wonderful fourth shot from 250yd to 15ft but missed the par putt and signed for a level-par 72.
That left the two-time major winner on seven under and five shots behind Johnson, who had charged through the field with a course record-equalling 63.
“Disappointing, frustrating,” was how McIlroy summed up his round.
Johnson, four behind McIlroy following an opening 69, birdied six of his first seven holes and narrowly missed further birdie chances on the eighth and ninth to be out in 30.
The big-hitting American dropped his first shot of the day after missing the green on the 10th, but responded with birdies on the 13th, 14th, 16th and 18th.
“Yesterday I doubled my third hole of the day, the 12th, and played really well after that and this morning on the range I worked on a few things and hit it really well coming out of the gates and obviously putted well,” Johnson said.
McIlroy shared second place with 2012 Masters winner Bubba Watson and former Ryder Cup player Boo Weekley, the American duo recording rounds of 69 and 67 respectively. Press and Journal columnist Stephen Gallacher, the only Scot, is two over following his second successive 73.