Rory McIlroy sits nine shots off the lead after second round 70

ROUGHING IT: Rory McIlroy on the 14th fairway during day two of The Open at Royal Liverpool, Wirral. Pic: Peter Byrne/PA Wire

Rory McIlroy is confident he will be prepared to deal with whatever weather conditions are thrown at Royal Liverpool over the weekend as the 151st Open Championship heads into its final two rounds on the Wirral Peninsula.

World number two McIlroy, seeking his first major title in nine years at the course where he won his sole Open title in 2014, battled to a one-under-par 70 on Friday to add to his opening level-par round on this notoriously difficult Merseyside links. The Irishman will start his third round on Saturday some nine shots off early clubhouse leader Brian Harman, the two-time PGA Tour winner who took this tournament by the scruff of the neck by moving to 10 under par thanks to a near faultless bogey-free, six-under 65.

McIlroy, 34, believes victory on Sunday afternoon is still within reach if he can make inroads to the American’s lead, no matter what the weather does in the next two days. R&A chief executive on Wednesday predicted the weekend’s conditions would “wet or very wet” and the most up to date forecasts for the next 48 hours remained uncertain on Friday afternoon, both in terms of precipitation and wind speeds.

Yet the Irishman said he would be ready for anything, particularly given his impressive Scottish Open victory last Sunday in difficult conditions on the links at the Renaissance Club in East Lothian.

“I think with the way I've been able to flight my iron shots, yeah, I think the week last week in Scotland was great preparation for what we faced the last couple of days,” McIlroy said following his 70.

“But yeah, I've felt more comfortable in the wind over the last few years, and I feel like I can perform in all sorts of conditions. Whatever it throws at us over the next couple days, I feel like I'll be prepared for.” He called for “more of the same” Saturday, adding: “Patience, hitting fairways, hitting greens, making good decisions. If I can do that and have a good attitude towards it all, that's what I expect of myself.

“I don't think I have to do anything differently. I'm hitting the ball well from tee to green. I've missed a couple of chances on the greens. The wind got me today. It's hard sometimes in two minds whether to play the wind or not to play the wind.

“But that stretch like 12, 13, 14, those greens are quite exposed, and you sort of have to play the wind a little bit.

“Nine back, I might be nine back, but I don't think there's going to be a ton of players between me and the lead going into the weekend. Depends what the conditions are tomorrow. Obviously depends what Brian does, as well.

“Right now it's not quite out of my hands, but at the same time, I think if I can get to 3-, 4-, 5-under par tomorrow going into Sunday, I'll have a really good chance.” 

Just as he had on Thursday with a brilliant par save at the last, McIlroy gained valuable momentum at the 18th on Friday with a birdie four to get under par for the day and the tournament. He had started well, with birdies at the first and fifth holes to move to two under only to fall back to level with bogeys at the 11th and par-five 15th, playing second easiest on the course in this second round.

So the birdie at the par-five last was much needed, he agreed.

“Yeah, important. Certainly important to me. I got off to a great start. Was a couple under through nine, and then gave those shots away on two of the sort of easier holes on the course, 11 and 15. But it was nice to at least get one of them back on 18 there.

“It played tough. It played really, really tough. 10-under par is unbelievably impressive out there. We'll see what the weekend holds. But after two days I'm actually pretty happy with my two days' work.”