{"id":41048,"date":"2026-04-11T04:25:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T04:25:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/masters-2026-rory-mcilroy-tightens-grip-on-masters-with-record-36-hole-lead-at-augusta\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T04:25:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T04:25:06","slug":"masters-2026-rory-mcilroy-tightens-grip-on-masters-with-record-36-hole-lead-at-augusta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/masters-2026-rory-mcilroy-tightens-grip-on-masters-with-record-36-hole-lead-at-augusta\/","title":{"rendered":"Masters 2026: Rory McIlroy tightens grip on Masters with record 36-hole lead at Augusta"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><b class=\"ssrcss-1xjjfut-BoldText e5tfeyi3\">When Rory McIlroy chatted to the great Jack Nicklaus for advice about the best way to defend his Masters title, he was given a succinct piece of advice.<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;He told me &#8216;no double bogeys&#8217;,&#8221; laughed McIlroy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">An obvious tip maybe, but it is easier said than done at Augusta National. Just ask the 36-year-old from Northern Ireland, who has opened up a record six-shot lead at the halfway stage thanks to a stunning finish to Friday&#8217;s second round.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">On his way to golfing utopia last year, McIlroy carded four double bogeys over the week &#8211; a tally which nobody had ever recorded and still managed to don the Green Jacket.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">So far, with McIlroy holding a commanding advantage in his pursuit of a rare back-to-back Masters win, there haven&#8217;t been any.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Instead of costly doubles threatening to derail his progress, there was a flurry of birdies late in a sensational second round which helped McIlroy accelerate away from the chasing pack.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He converted six in the final seven holes of his second round &#8211; including a glorious chip in from 30 yards on the 17th &#8211; to finish 12-under par following a spell which ranks among the finest of his career.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The run enabled the five-time major champion to set a record 36-hole lead going into the weekend, with American pair Sam Burns and Patrick Reed closest behind on six under.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I&#8217;ve always loved the tournament and loved this golf course, even when I felt it didn&#8217;t love me back,&#8221; said McIlroy, who is bidding to follow Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods as only the fourth player to win successive titles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Now when I miss fairways it&#8217;s fine, when I miss greens it&#8217;s fine. I feel like I&#8217;m playing with the house&#8217;s money.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/golf\/articles\/cq8w4xjv5vyo?at_medium=RSS&#038;at_campaign=rss\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Rory McIlroy chatted to the great Jack Nicklaus for advice about the best way to defend his Masters title, he was given a succinct piece of advice. &#8220;He told me &#8216;no double bogeys&#8217;,&#8221; laughed McIlroy. An obvious tip maybe, but it is easier said than done at Augusta National. Just ask the 36-year-old from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41048"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41048"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41050,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41048\/revisions\/41050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}