Pebble Beach, Calif. – Rory McIlroy remains within striking distance at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, despite describing his performance thus far as “a little bit wasteful.” The defending champion finished the second round at nine-under-par after a 67 at Pebble Beach, leaving him six strokes behind co-leaders Akshay Bhatia and Ryo Hisatsune.
McIlroy’s round included an eagle on the second hole and two subsequent birdies, but was offset by bogeys on the 10th and 14th. He finished strongly, securing a birdie on the 18th. “I feel like I wasted a few shots out there or at least just wasn’t efficient with my scoring and didn’t capitalise on my good start the last couple of days,” McIlroy said.
Bhatia surged into a tie for the lead with an eight-under-par 64 at Spyglass Hill, even as Hisatsune maintained his position after the second round. Rickie Fowler and Sam Burns are one stroke behind the leaders, at 14-under-par. Austria’s Sepp Straka trails by two strokes.
England’s Matt Fitzpatrick is among a group on 10-under-par, alongside Tommy Fleetwood and McIlroy. Shane Lowry of Ireland finished the second round at eight-under-par.
McIlroy acknowledged the potential for challenging conditions on Saturday and Sunday, emphasizing the importance of positioning himself for a strong weekend. “I played pretty good but with the weather coming in on Sunday, [Saturday’s] going to be a really important day to get yourself in position,” he stated. “Sunday looks like it could be pretty messy and a lot of things could happen, so the closer you are to the lead Sunday the better. Even if I am a few behind going into Sunday, everyone will have a chance given those conditions.”
World number one Scottie Scheffler made a late rally, picking up five shots in his last seven holes to reach six-under-par. Coverage of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am continues live on Sky Sports, with third-round coverage scheduled to begin at 4:30pm on Saturday.
