Throwing yourself into your work seems to be the standard process to get over heartache, and it’s working fairly well for Rory McIlroy.
Two days after his announcement of the end of his engagement to tennis star Caroline Wozniacki, after having had his private life dissected by any number of amateur analysts in the press, the 25-year-old is just five shots off the lead at the halfway mark in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
Perhaps those bookies still steadfastly kept him as favourite for the championship despite a modest record at Wentworth, an admitted antipathy for the course and the clear mental turmoil in the wake of his relationship break up, knew something after all.
McIlroy shot a one-under 71 yesterday, modest stuff on the face of it but decent work as the wind got up and more rain made the West Course a much trickier assignment, at least for the first three-quarters of the day.
Thomas Bjorn, after his record 62 in Thursday’s opening round, still leads but a par 72 meant he was caught by Ireland’s Shane Lowry, who also had some scrapes but birdied the last two holes as conditions got calmer and warmer in the evening.
The other serious move came from twice-champion Luke Donald, who had five successive threes in his best-of-the-day 67, adding a lengthy birdie putt on the last to go to six-under.
Potential World No 1 Henrik Stenson if he does better than Adam Scott over in Texas had a 71 for five-under to be the mix over the weekend, although more inclement weather is promised for today and tomorrow and Lowry has form as a scrambler in the wet.
But it was Lowry’s former Ireland amateur team colleague who continued to get the majority of attention, and yesterday’s round was a lesson in McIlroy’s fortitude.
He doubled the seventh, the same hole he rather luckily eagled from the fairway on Thursday, thanks to thinning an escape from a greenside bunker, and reached the turn three-over for his round, one-under for the championship.
On the way back, however, he eagled the 12th impressively for the second day in succession, and three of the last four holes for good measure.
“The good thing is that you can’t let your mind wander when you’re trying to win a golf tournament,” he said of being distracted from his other troubles. “Once I get inside the ropes, it’s almost like a nice four or five hours of release, getting everything out of your head apart from doing the job at hand.
“It’s the hours in the day when you’re away from that which are more difficult.”
When able to concentrate on his golf, Rory has adapted to Wentworth by playing “conservatively for me” and thriving because the course has softened in the rain and the ball is holding on the fairway.
In addition, he’s taken advantage of the par fives, which he did not do at the Masters. He was level par for 16 visits to the long holes at Augusta when playing them at eight-under would have got a play-off with Bubba Watson.
“It means I’m taking advantage of the holes I should be taking advantage of,” he added.
Bjorn had his troubles in his 72 but repaired them all to stay at 10-under and in charge of the championship. As seems to be normal, the big Dane was able to find time from somewhere in his packed schedule to think about his young colleague.
“The world of golf is a better place when Rory McIlroy is playing well,” he said. “He’s a great talent and it says a lot for his character that he’s been able to focus on the job, go out and perform the way he has.
“He’s had a tough couple of days as that’s a tough situation. I feel for both of them, as they’ve both got big things coming up.
“Tough things happen on the road of life and we all have to deal with them. Rory’s such a great talent and if anyone can do it, he can.”
As for himself, Bjorn looked like slipping back towards the pack but two birdies in the last three holes got him in with his two-stroke lead preserved. However Lowry was still on the course, and he picked up birdies at the last two holes for a two-under 70 and gtie the lead.
Lowry of course got on Tour by winning his home Open in 2009 in a rainstorm as an amateur, and has since become reputed as one of the circuit’s best bad weather players. However when the Tour tweeted the opinion yesterday that he might be now the tour’s best player in a rainjacket, succeeding Paul Lawrie, the long-time unofficial holder of that title, the 1999 Open champion tweeted back “Ha! No chance!”
Sure enough, almost as soon as the tweet appeared Lowry double-bogeyed the ninth, but he snagged four more birdies on the back nine, including the two par fives at the end as the wind dropped, to move within a shot of Bjorn.
Donald’s round was the best of the day by two clear shots, built on his run of threes starting at the seventh and including an eagle, three birdies and a par.
The Englishman is well known as a specialist in the modern Wentworth, with a third place in 2010 before his wins in 2011 and 2012, and has been nicely warming into a run of form.
However after yesterday’s cool temperatures he was looking for something a little more warming.
“You can’t get a decent curry in Chicago,” he said, adding that he was off out to one of London’s finest Indian establishments to fill that particular need.