The 88th Masters Tournament has been one of the toughest tests fans have seen in years. Wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour kept all but eight of 89 competitors at even par or worse Friday.
One of those unfortunate souls was Rory McIlroy, who carded a 5-over 77 Friday.
Following his round, the Northern Irishman detailed just how difficult it was out there.
“Tough day, really tough day. Just hard to make a score and just sort of trying to make as many pars as possible,” McIlroy said.
That seems to be an understatement.
The opening round at Augusta National proved difficult, as seen by the 73.43 scoring average. But Friday’s second round was unbelievably more tricky.
Players averaged 75.08, which is the largest discrepancy between the first two rounds at Augusta since 1976, per The Athletic’s Justin Ray.
The field scoring average at #TheMasters jumped from 73.43 in round one to 75.08 in round two.
That’s the largest increase between the first two rounds in a single Masters since 1976 (+1.85).
— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) April 13, 2024
Things were so difficult that former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel called the conditions “borderline unplayable.”
It was easy to see why he felt that way.
Numerous players called Friday one of the most difficult rounds they had ever played professionally.
McIlroy also acknowledged how tough it was.
“One second you’ll have a shot that’s playing 150, and then if the wind does something different, the shot could be playing 180. It could be a 30-yard difference.”
Knowing there is generally speaking a 10-yard difference in yardages between most irons, a 30-yard difference is a game changer.
Yet, the four-time major champion remained optimistic.
“Hopefully the conditions are a little better tomorrow. Yeah, I still think I can go out tomorrow and shoot a low one, get back into red numbers, and have half a chance going into Sunday.”
McIlroy is 10 shots back of the trio of leaders, Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau and Max Homa.
He will tee off 10:55am ET Saturday morning in search of the career grand slam.
Kendall Capps is the Senior Editor of SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social media platforms.
