Time is running out for Rory McIlroy to stop his major championship drought before the 10-year mark. The Northern Irishman hasn't won a major since the 2014 PGA Championship.
Two rounds into the 123rd U.S. Open, McIlroy has set himself up for a weekend push.
The World No. 3 followed an opening 65 with a 3-under 67 on Friday at the Los Angeles Country Club, on the strength of four birdies over his final five holes. At 8-under 132, McIlroy was looking up at only one player in the clubhouse with a better score, Wyndham Clark's 9-under 131.
"No one wants me to win another major more than I do," McIlroy told reporters. "The desire is obviously there.
"I've been trying and I've come close over the past nine years or whatever it is, and I keep coming back. I feel like I've showed a lot of resilience in my career, a lot of ups and downs, and I keep coming back. And whether that means that I get rewarded or I get punched in the gut or whatever it is, I'll always keep coming back."
McIlroy was speaking for the first time this week after declining to do a pre-championship press conference in favor of getting in more practice holes. Though he fired one of the best rounds of the day Thursday, he ended with a tough bogey after whiffing on a chip out of tall greenside fescue and did not do any interviews.
McIlroy missed the cut at the Masters and was hard on himself at the PGA Championship despite tying for seventh.
With the PGA Tour's announcement of a business agreement with the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which had been bankrolling LIV Golf, McIlroy said before last week's RBC Canadian Open that he couldn't help but feel like "a sacrificial lamb" in the PGA-LIV feud that lasted more than a year.
It was suggested throughout the week that McIlroy would be freed up to focus on golf now, rather than expending energy on the PGA-LIV fight.
"I started thinking about winning this thing when I came here on Monday," McIlroy said Friday.
McIlroy started his round on the back nine and made three bogeys to just one birdie. His fortunes changed on the more scorable front nine, which he finished in 5-under 30.
The 34-year-old got a 22 1/2-foot birdie putt to fall at the par-4 fifth and swept in a 6-footer at the par-4 sixth. He landed on the par-5 eighth green in two shots and two-putted for birdie, then nearly aced the par-3 ninth by knocking his tee shot just past the cup to a mere 3 feet.
"Obviously at least for me, there's quite a scoring discrepancy from the front nine to the back nine," McIlroy said. "The front nine gives you some scoring opportunities and some wedges in your hand, a couple of par-5s. Sixth hole (a short par-4)."
Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele opened the championship with rounds of 62, the first such scores in U.S. Open history. Whether McIlroy plays in one of the final groups Saturday will depend on where Fowler and Schauffele finish their second rounds Friday evening.
"I'm surprised. I didn't see the scores being as low as they are," McIlroy said. "I think the overcast conditions (Thursday) combined with that little bit of rain in the morning, I think the course just never got firm at all.
"And yes, the course has played maybe a little easier than everyone thought it would, but wouldn't be surprised on Saturday, Sunday to see it bite back, which ... I feel is what a U.S. Open is all about."
More must-reads: