Van Zyl shoots 61 to grab Turkish Airlines Open lead
On 10-under, the world No 3 is in a tie for sixth, four strokes behind Jaco Van Zyl who threatened to make it a procession before two late bogeys brought the unheralded South African back to the pack.
The Turkish Airlines Open is the first event on the European Tour’s Final Series – the lucrative final stretch in the Race to Dubai – with a total prize money fund of US$7 million, and a winner’s paycheque of US$1.14 million.
The hole proved elusive to McIlroy’s birdie putts for the rest of his front nine, although he did make a 25-footer to save par on the eighth, but the charge started on 11 with a birdie on the par five. He had to take a penalty drop after pushing his tee shot left, but made a crucial six-feet putt for par. “So to be only four behind isn’t much at all”.
Van Zyl shot a 61 in the first round and stretched his lead to as many as seven shots during the second round with five birdies on his first 10 holes.
“To be in this position is really an honour and hopefully we can stay in the mix till the last nine holes on Sunday”, he said.
2015 has been a mixed year for McIlory as, after a strong start, his progress tailed off before an ankle injury prevented him from defending his Open Championship crown at St Andrews. “I felt really comfortable out there and played nicely, but unfortunately had a couple of loose shots on the back nine”.
Rory McIlroy is the headline player here and is a shot priced favourite at 4/1 – He is the clear class in the field with Shane Lowry (14/1) the only other Top 20 player in the field.
The Belgian starting his day with three birdies and an eagle, before recovering from his mishap at the start of the back nine to pick up another four shots late on.
“I guess I always have the belief”. “I’ve been hitting it well for months now, but my short game has been shocking”. McIlroy added. “And so I’ve worked quite a bit on routine, trying to free myself up and simplify it a little bit instead”.
“So I’m really not concentrating and not thinking about that at all”. I’d like to win at least one of these last three events that I’m playing.
“It was good, but I felt it could have been a bit better, not taking advantage of a few of the chances coming in was a bit frustrating”, McIlroy said. That first putt was about 15 foot, which is pretty long for me.
“I’m glad I got out of jail today with two under…it could have been worse”.