Rory McIlroy’s second-round double-bogey blunder may cost him Tour Championship

It might be safe to say that Rory McIlroy won’t be winning the 2026 Tour Championship, barring a late stretch of dominant golf. As Round 2 is underway, McIlroy is now eight shots back of the lead, but his play is heading in the wrong direction.

So far through four holes, McIlroy is two over on the day, moving his total score from -3 back to even after he birdied the first hole. The blunder came on the third, as McIlroy would score a 6 on the Par-4.

Rory McIlroy: One of us pic.twitter.com/LA57YDnlwE

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 28, 2026

The 3rd hole was a disaster for Rory. After a miserable approach shot 115 yards out from the middle of the fairway, Rory needed an up-and-down from that slope to save par, as you saw in the video. After he failed to get it up the first time, he then needed to try to save bogey. He would then two-putt for the double bogey. It didn’t get any easier on the 4th.

Rory would bogey this hole as well, seeing his chances of winning this tournament go down the drain. It would take a dominant back nine from Rory to see this turn around. He’ll need to see his even score rise to at least -4 or -5 by the end of the day if he wants to give himself a chance. There is too much talent among these 29 golfers. The winning score may reach close to -20, especially if Scottie Scheffler and at least a handful of others should be north of -10 heading into the weekend.

When Rory is at his best, he is almost unbeatable. It will take that type of play for him to be crowned Tour Champion. He has a lot of golf left to play. We will see what he does with it.