Defending champion Rory McIlroy plans to carry on swinging and keep “his foot on the gas” rather than trying to protect a record-breaking 36-hole Masters lead.
Six birdies in his last seven holes saw the Northern Irishman post a 65 and a 12-under par total, his six-stroke halfway advantage the best in the tournament’s history.
He sits clear of American duo Sam Burns and Patrick Reed while close friends Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry and Justin Rose, who Mcllroy defeated in a Masters play-off 12 months ago, are all one shot further back.
McIlroy collected his first Masters crown by posting a score of 11-under par in 2025 – his current score of 12-under would be good enough to win each of the last five editions.
He does have memories, albeit distant now, of losing a four-shot lead on the final day of the 2011 Masters but he bounced back two months later by maintaining an eight-shot 56-hole advantage to win the US Open.
With McIlroy creating a piece of history at Augusta ahead of the weekend action, here are some of the key stats behind how he has done it:
Greens Hit
McIlroy has reached the green in two or more strokes less than par in 26 of his 36 holes to date, giving him a percentage of 72% – the average across the field sits at 61%.
In Thursday’s opening round, he was successful in 13 out of his 18 holes and repeated the feat once again on Friday, showing no sign of letting up as he chases a second Masters title.
While McIlroy sits comfortably top of the leaderboard when it comes to the overall score, Burns and Lowry lead the way in terms of greens hit – they’ve both registered 30/36.
Birdies Registered
This is a category where McIlroy has set a distance between himself and the field – the Northern Irishman has hit 15 birdies across his opening two rounds with Chris Gotterup (11) coming next on the list.
Having struck six on Thursday, the Holywood native took his game to another level on Friday, registering nine birdies to open up his whopping advantage.
He leads the way on birdies collected at both par-three and par-five holes so far.
McIlroy’s Ryder Cup team-mate Tyrrell Hatton hit seven birdies on Friday, compared to just two on Thursday, so could be one to watch as he looks to propel himself up the leaderboard from tied-seventh.
Driving Distance
McIlroy sits second on the list when it comes to driving distance – and putting – with his average across the Masters registering 334 yards.
While he averaged 341 yards on Thursday, McIlroy dialled it back a bit off the tee on Friday, reducing to 327 yards as he looked to get himself in better positions – a tactic which obviously worked.
Only Gotterup (339.5 yards) has struck it further on average than McIlroy at Augusta this year.
