Six birdies in final seven holes for defending champion
Burns and Reed at -6, Rose, Lowry and Fleetwood at -5
After spending 16 years as the hunter, Rory McIlroy is relishing his position as the hunted. The defending Masters champion has reached the halfway point of the 2026 staging in a style that asserts his desperation to hang on to the Green Jacket. Elk, served as sliders in the 36-year-old’s champions dinner on Tuesday evening, were seen diving for cover in mountainous regions as McIlroy placed daylight between himself and pretenders to his throne.
McIlroy won at Augusta National in 2025 and eventually discovered that was not his final career destination after all. He is now 36 holes from becoming only the fourth man in history to back up a Masters win with a Masters win. McIlroy’s distinctly relaxed state of mind means only the bold will back against him from here. Even the prospect of falling short is unlikely to perturb McIlroy. He did quite enough of that in earlier years before rebounding in ferocious fashion. A grand slam winner has a mindset to match.
McIlroy wasted little time in laying down a marker. He was the sole leader of the Masters on the second hole. Birdies at the 3rd and 4th followed. The latter came after a quite superb long iron shot which was unlucky to catch a downslope upon landing. McIlroy afforded the field some hope with a bogey on the treacherous 5th and erred again when missing from 5ft for par. Minus six at this point was matched by the rampaging Reed.
