Quick Roundup Rory Stories From Friday At The Open

It's not much of a secret at this point, for the first time ever split tees Saturday to give the R&A options should play need to be stopped by the "lively" rain that has arrived. From The Telegraph.

Now we joke about this Rory secondrounditis stuff and there are surely much bigger issues, but we know golfers are a superstitious lot and Friday's performance was mighty impressive from the lad in fluroescent.

Ewan Murray of the Guardian reports on Rory McIlroy's epic Friday round.

McIlroy’s second-round struggles had become so common that the player had run out of explanations and those describing them were well short on analogies.

Change was needed, and it duly arrived on the sun-kissed Royal Liverpool links, as McIlroy’s quest for a maiden Open success was emphatically enhanced. Back-to-back rounds of 66 have McIlroy four shots clear of Dustin Johnson and halfway towards a third major win. It is worth noting that his previous two have both come by eight-shot margins.

McIlroy has a firm grip on the Claret Jug for the first time in his career. If, and it is always an if, he continues to play in this manner then he won’t be beaten. He can’t be, to put it bluntly.

“I have an inner peace on the golf course,” McIlroy said. “I just feel very comfortable. I’m very comfortable in this position. I’m very comfortable doing what I’m doing right now.

The Daily Mail's Derek Lawrenson reports on Rory McIlroy's Friday round making his enemies feel misguided.

Caroline Wozniacki take note. Rory McIlroy is looking down on the rest of the field from a great height after consigning black Fridays to the ether in the most spectacular manner imaginable — at The Open Championship.

The Dane had wielded her stiletto by informing the world via social media that she could finally wear her heels for the first time in three years.

Trust her former fiance Rory to respond by showing a clean pair to everyone at Royal Liverpool and banishing all talk about what the heck happens to him on Fridays. Size doesn’t matter in golf, and certainly not when you play like the Northern Irishman.

Speaking of Caroline, she tweeted a jab at Rory's height. G.C. Digital with the details.

Oliver Brown of the Telegraph reports on Rory's encounter with a pheasant on Friday:

The ancient Chinese wisdom that the pheasant symbolised prosperity and good fortune was borne out by the tale of a hunter in Burma, who noticed a precious gem in the gizzard of his recent kill. Inspired by the discovery to seek out the stone’s origin, what should he stumble across but an emerald mine?

A similarly propitious fate, would you believe, was to bless Rory McIlroy on Friday as he lined up a 10-foot putt on the eighth green, when a male pheasant in full iridescent plumage tottered right across his path. The intervention proved a timely charm. For after the bird, came the birdie, and our leader’s course was set.