RORY McILROY survived the carnage of day two at The Masters to give his hopes of completing the Grand Slam a massive boost.
While his main rivals were floundering in the tough conditions — with first-round leader Jordan Spieth dropping three shots in the first two holes to slip back into the pack — McIlroy gritted his teeth.
He has not exactly built a reputation as a golfer who excels when the weather turns but his one-under-par 71 took him to four under for the tournament.
And that means he is perfectly placed to challenge for the one Major that has eluded him.
There is plenty of cause for encouragement for McIlroy, 28, and his legion of followers.
He ended day one in a share of fourth place — and all four times he has been in the top five after the first round of a Major, he has gone on to win it.
McIlroy credited his putting for keeping him in the mix.
He said: “You have so many comeback putts for par within that six to 12ft range and they are important.
“You still have to hole your fair share of mid-range putts.
“But if you cannot give any strokes away with your short-range putting from inside six feet…
Latest golf news
“If you can hole most of those and hole some 15-20 footers then that’s a bonus. To win any golf tournament you have to do that.”
Then there is also the Arnold Palmer link. McIlroy won the Tour Championship on the day ‘The King’ passed away in September 2016.
He then ended an 18-month drought with his win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational three weeks ago.
And this just happens to be the 60th anniversary of the first of Palmer’s four Masters triumphs.
Spieth looked like running away with this tournament when a first-round run of five successive birdies took him to seven under par after 17 holes — three shots clear of his nearest challengers.
But an 18th-hole bogey trimmed his lead and it had vanished completely after the opening hole yesterday.
A wild drive into the trees down the right led to a double-bogey six.
His next drive also found trees, this time down the left, and with no escape route to the fairway he ended up bogeying a hole that offers a great birdie chance.
But Spieth — who birdied the par-fives at 13 and 15, eventually settling for a two-over-par 74 — was not the only player struggling.
There was mayhem everywhere you looked at Augusta as swirling winds, hard-baked greens and tough pin positions had the world’s top golfers shaking their heads in frustration.
And some of them did a lot more than that — most notably in the form of young Spanish star Jon Rahm.
The world No 3 can be a bit of a hot-head at the best of times.
Latest sports news
And when he sent a bunker shot sailing over the green at the par-three fourth hole, he smashed his club into the sand.
The 23-year-old then threw it into a nearby bush and gave his bag a vicious kick for good measure.
And after retrieving his club and holing out for a bogey four, he hurled his ball into the same bush!
The bunkers saw plenty of action on pretty much every hole as almost everyone found it hard to keep their ball on the glass-like greens.
The wind was gusting at 10-15mph — hardly enough to blow you off balance but it kept the game’s biggest names guessing.
And they were all caught out at one time or another.
Phil Mickelson, a hot tip for a fourth Masters title after winning the Mexico World Golf Championship title last month, dropped five shots in four holes around the turn — despite making a birdie at the tenth.
He had a triple-bogey seven at the ninth after carving his ball into the trees down the right, where he was forced to take a penalty drop.
The American’s bounce-back birdie was wiped out by a five at the 11th and then he dumped his tee shot into Rae’s Creek at 12 — with a furious glance to the heavens showing he felt the wind was responsible.
There were plenty of other players displaying similar levels of exasperation. But McIlroy was certainly not one of them.