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The Northern Irishman could hardly have had a worse start to his Open campaign this year, bogeying five of the first six holes on Thursday. The 28-year-old did recover though, coming back in
32 with four back-nine birdies to finish one shot over par. His good form continued on Friday morning as he capitalised on a lull in the windy weather conditions to birdie the first, third
and sixth holes. It moved him to -2, three shots off the leading American trio of Matt Kuchar, Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka. McIlroy, who cut a figure of dejection after the opening nine
yesterday, was strutting around the course with a more familiar confidence on Friday, laughing and joking with playing partners and course officials alike. The 2014 Open champion had earlier
cited the intervention of caddie JP Fitzgerald for sparking the recovery on Thursday afternoon which ran over into Friday. “JP gave me a good talking to on the sixth tee box and sort of
reminded me who I was and what I was capable of,” McIlroy said. “Specifically, he said: ‘You’re Rory McIlroy - what the f*** are you doing?’ “I was nervous going out, a little anxious,
timid. I just did not have as much belief in myself as I should have had. “But JP did a great job. Thankfully he has not had to do it too often but he has had to do it a few times and
thankfully he is never afraid to. “I feel today it helped a lot more than other times because I needed something. I was trying to look within myself but JP kept me positive and that is very
much appreciated. “I just sort of mumbled, ‘whatever’ but it helped, it definitely helped. "It got me back in a positive frame of mind because I really did not find the middle of the
club face until the seventh tee."