Rory McIlroy is blowtorching TPC Sawgrass after flirting with The Players cut line

Rory McIlroy has taken a blowtorch to TPC Sawgrass on Friday morning at The Players Championship. After starting the day at even-par, Rory rolled in four straight birdies and five in his first six holes to start his second round.

While Jason Day was matching the course record on Thursday with a 63 at TPC Sawgrass, McIlroy headed into Friday’s second round of The Players Championship in potential danger of missing the cut. Even with an entire second nine to play, that MC is a laughable proposition now.

McIlroy, who cited the late-day conditions for his lackluster opening round, is taking advantage of his own benign morning scoring conditions on Friday.

“I don’t know what the guys were doing out there this morning, but I don’t think we saw the same golf course this afternoon,” McIlroy said on Thursday. “It was a little firmer, the wind got up a little bit, and those guys made the course look awfully easy this morning.”

It was Rory’s turn to light it up in the softer morning conditions on Friday. After those five early birdies, the big-hitting Ulsterman decided to pour in an eagle to put us on full #59watch alert. Of course, there’s water trouble ahead at the No. 17 and 18 holes but it’s looking like he will break 30 on his first nine.

Once he makes the turn, however, McIlroy will face his own tougher personal challenge. The front nine at TPC Sawgrass has not been friendly to the kind of shot shapes that Rory prefers, and it’s been a house of horrors for him. The back nine has been a stripe show, and it was again on Friday morning.

Rory’s so good that he can use half the course to post three straight top 10s at this event and thanks to the Friday start, he’s now just two shots back with 11 more holes to go.