{"id":595988,"date":"2026-04-11T01:31:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T01:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/595988\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T01:31:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T01:31:11","slug":"rory-mcilroy-pulls-away-at-masters-setting-record-with-six-shot-lead-at-halfway-mark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/595988\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy pulls away at Masters, setting record with six-shot lead at halfway mark"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, hits his tee shot on the 16th hole during the second round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club on Friday.David J. Phillip\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

The only thing that stopped Rory McIlroy in the Masters was running out of holes to play Friday.<\/p>\n

McIlroy stood on the 12th tee in a tie with Patrick Reed and with a dozen other players bunched together in what was shaping up to be a compelling chase for the green jacket.<\/p>\n

Six birdies over his final seven holes for a seen-under 65 left everyone to wonder if they were playing for second. McIlroy\u2019s fourth straight birdie to close out the best round of the week gave him a six-shot advantage, setting the Masters record for largest 36-hole lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I had some chances coming in when I was standing on the 12th tee, but I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d birdie six of the last seven,\u201d he said. \u201cIt just shows what you can do around here.\u201d<\/p>\n

He did it in spectacular fashion. McIlroy twice made birdie on the par fives after laying up from the trees. He twice had short putts on the par threes. And if all that wasn\u2019t enough, he chipped in from 30 yards up a slope so steep he couldn\u2019t even see the hole.<\/p>\n

Masters gnomes, possibly in their final year of production, a hot commodity at Augusta National<\/a><\/p>\n

The final hour of a fascinating day started to look like a victory lap for McIlroy, who spent 17 years trying to win the Masters and now looks like he can\u2019t wait to do it again.<\/p>\n

His tee shot over Rae\u2019s Creek on the dangerous 12th hole landed 7 feet behind the flag. He birdied both par fives after having to lay up from the trees. He took advantage of the lower pin at the par-three 16th for what amounted to a tap-in birdie.<\/p>\n

And then he really sent the gallery into a frenzy when he chipped in from 30 yards on the 17th. McIlroy knew it was good because \u201cI could see everyone in the grandstand start to stand up.\u201d<\/p>\n

And there was one more to go \u2013 another perfect approach that came down the slope to 6 feet for one last birdie.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy walks off the 18th green during the second round of the 2026 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on Friday in Augusta, Ga.Andrew Redington\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

That put him at 12-under 132, six shots clear of Reed (69) and Sam Burns (71). The previous record for the largest 36-hole lead at Augusta National was five shots by six players, most recently Scottie Scheffler in 2022. The first was Harry (Lighthorse) Cooper in 1936, the only player in that position who did not win the Masters.<\/p>\n

If McIlroy holds on, he would become the fourth player to win back-to-back at the Masters, joining Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods.<\/p>\n

He had a two-shot lead after 36 holes in 2011 and stretched it to four shots going into the final round before he famously imploded with an 80. That was the start of his Masters heartache that lasted until a year ago, when he triumphed in a playoff to finally prove he could win at Augusta National. <\/p>\n

Maybe he should start thinking about next year\u2019s menu for the Masters Club dinner. <\/p>\n

\u201cI know what can happen around here, good and bad,\u201d McIlroy said with a smile. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to remind me not to get ahead of myself. There\u2019s a long way to go. I got off to an amazing start.\u201d<\/p>\n

Augusta allowed for that. It was warmer, brighter, drier. The wind wasn\u2019t quite as strong and the gusts didn\u2019t swirl as much. And there was much better scoring in part because of more generous pin positions, including on 16 and 18, where cleanly struck shots could feed toward the hole.<\/p>\n

The scores were nearly two shots lower than Thursday.<\/p>\n

That didn\u2019t help everyone, least of all Bryson DeChambeau. He fought back from an opening 76 and was one shot below the cut line when it took him two shots to get out of a greenside bunker on the 18th, the second shot rolling off the false front back down to the fairway. He made triple bogey and missed the cut.<\/p>\n

Reed was bogey-free until failing to save par on the final hole. That also cost him a spot in the final group Saturday with McIlroy. They were paired together in the last group in 2018, with seemingly all of Augusta on McIlroy\u2019s side, only for Reed to win handily.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy reacts on the 18th green during the second round of the 2026 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on Friday in Augusta, Ga.Hector Vivas\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Burns birdied his last two holes to salvage a 71 and will be paired with McIlroy.<\/p>\n

Justin Rose, the playoff loser to McIlroy a year ago, had a rough day with the putter and still shot 69 to be part of the group at five-under 139 \u2013 now seven shots behind \u2013 along with Shane Lowry (69) and Tommy Fleetwood, who had two eagles in his round of 68.<\/p>\n

McIlroy took three weeks off heading into the Masters \u2013 no one since Adam Scott in 2013 won the Masters coming off a break that long \u2013 and felt it was to his advantage.<\/p>\n

He took multiple trips to Augusta \u2013 sometimes day trips to get home for dinner \u2013 and spent most of his time working on his short game, which has been superb.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like I was part of the furniture,\u201d McIlroy said of all his visits to the course.<\/p>\n

He also had a six-shot lead at the Congressional in the 2011 U.S. Open, the major after he blew his big lead at the Masters, and he went on to win by eight. He learned that week to push on instead of protect, the same approach he plans for the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, I\u2019ve built up a nice cushion at this point,\u201d McIlroy said. \u201cI guess my mindset is just trying to keep playing well and keeping my foot on the gas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scheffler, the world\u2019s No. 1 player who has won two of the last four Masters, is now 12 shots behind. Scheffler twice hit into the water on the par fives on the back nine, made bogey on both, and shot 74 for his first round over par at the Masters in three years.<\/p>\n

The players in what looked to be the B-flight had all finished before McIlroy went on his astonishing run of birdies. Cameron Young and U.S. Amateur champion Mason Howell had a front-row seat to McIlroy in full command at the Masters.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to stay in your own lane, but it\u2019s hard not to watch that,\u201d Howell said after missing the cut. \u201cThat chip-in on 17 was unreal. That was one of the coolest things I\u2019ve seen in sports, and I got to witness it in person. So that was awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, hits his tee shot on the 16th hole…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":595989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,622,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":{"0":"post-595988","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-ca","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-canada-news","17":"tag-canada-sports","18":"tag-canada-sports-news","19":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","20":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","21":"tag-canadian-news","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-environment","25":"tag-federal-government","26":"tag-foreign-news","27":"tag-globe-and-mail","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","30":"tag-golf","31":"tag-government","32":"tag-life-news","33":"tag-lifestyle","34":"tag-local-news","35":"tag-manitoba","36":"tag-national-news","37":"tag-new-brunswick","38":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","39":"tag-northwest-territories","40":"tag-nova-scotia","41":"tag-nunavut","42":"tag-ontario","43":"tag-pei","44":"tag-photos","45":"tag-political-news","46":"tag-political-opinion","47":"tag-politics","48":"tag-politics-news","49":"tag-quebec","50":"tag-sports","51":"tag-sports-news","52":"tag-technology","53":"tag-travel","54":"tag-trudeau","55":"tag-us-news","56":"tag-world-news","57":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}