Scott, Tringale lead Barclays
PARAMUS, N.J. — Adam Scott wants to be more like Rory McIlroy.
Rory McIlroy wants to be in Adam Scott’s current position.
Either way, the top two ranked players in the world have a chance to battle for bragging rights at Ridgewood Country Club this weekend.
Let the fireworks begin.
Scott, the tournament’s defending champion, fired a near-flawless 6-under 65 in the second round of The Barclays at Ridgewood on Friday to claim a share of the lead with Cameron Tringale at 8-under overall.
McIlroy, ranked No. 1 in the world, matched Scott’s second-round score and is five strokes behind the leaders. But even though Scott holds a distinct scoring edge heading into Saturday’s third round, he would trade it to play like McIlroy has the last month.
“I think you’ve got to draw motivation from wherever you can,” Scott said. “And I’m not afraid to say that I look at the way McIlroy played and I want that to be me. And I feel that I can play like that and have runs like that. You’ve got to learn from the best and he’s one of them.”
McIlroy proved that Friday, making six birdies against no bogeys to rebound from his opening-round 3-over 74.
He won the British Open, World Golf Championships — Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship coming into this event and is trying to join Byron Nelson (1945), Ben Hogan (1948), Jack Burke (1952) and Tiger Woods (06-07) as the only players in PGA Tour history to win four or more tournaments consecutively.
“That work that I did Thursday on the range really helped, just sort of got back into the rhythm and into the flow of things,” McIlroy said. “I expect if I execute my shots and stick to my game plan and do what I can, there’s low numbers in me, and hopefully that means that I will be at the right end of the leaderboard.”
Scott was steady throughout his round, making four straight birdies on holes 5-8 and finishing things up with a 155-yard approach to just over a foot on No. 18.
