Job's Not Finished

The first word that came to my mind was “ballsy.” What we saw from Rory McIlroy on Friday was ballsy. A literal nightmare unfolded over his final four holes to close out his opening round and he came back, battled, bedazzled, and he’s now basking in the Augusta sunshine just two shots off Justin Rose’s lead.

It would have been easy to fold. It would have been easy to lie down and tell himself there’s always next year. But as he told Scott Van Pelt after signing for a second-round 6-under 66, he wasn’t going to let two holes dictate the outcome of his week.

He made an easy par on No. 1 and took care of the par-5 second to get back to 1 under, but he was shut out for the rest of his front nine and made the turn with a 35.

But then he got to work.

The Northern Irishman hit a stunning approach into the 10th to set up a tap-in birdie. Then on 11, he hit a flighted draw down the hill that landed just five feet from the flag. He couldn’t have played two of the toughest holes on the golf course better if he tried.

Then, finally, he caught a break.

On the par-3 12th, his ball took a huge hop on the downslope long of the green and rolled into the bushes and pinestraw. Maybe someone threw it back, but his ball rolled down the slope and he was able to get it up and down to keep the train on the tracks.

His tee shot down the par-5 13th found the pinestraw, but he had a look into the green. When his second was in the air, I thought it was water bound. Rory thought the same. But it landed safely on the putting surface and came to rest nine feet from the hole.

The featured group coverage was focused on another group, but an enormous roar came from another part of the golf course and immediately I knew what it was. When coverage went back to McIlroy, he lipped in his eagle putt to get to 5 under on the day and 5 under total.

His heroics continued on 14 when his drive went way right into the trees and he played an unbelievable wedge shot over everything and stuck it to just outside 15 feet. He didn’t make the putt, but he would have taken a four and ran after his tee shot.

Then it was time to face the start of his Thursday afternoon nightmare.

He blasted a drive down the 15th, leaving himself 230 yards to the flag. With 4-iron in hand, McIlroy took a conservative line and found the front-left section of the putting surface. From 90 feet away, McIlroy cozied it up to five feet and made it for a birdie four. A three-shot turnaround at the final par 5 from a day ago.

He closed with three uneventful pars to put the finishing touches on an incredible comeback.

But like Kobe Bryant said during the 2009 NBA Finals, job’s not finished.

McIlroy has plenty of work to do if he wants to become the sixth player in history to capture the Career Grand Slam.

He’ll have to fend off the likes of Justin Rose, Bryson DeChambeau, Scottie Scheffler, and any other player who makes a move on Friday afternoon.

But man oh man, was his second 18 one hell of a response.

Now we go.