Horschel leads McIlroy by two

Report by Anand Datla

September 13, 2014: Billy Horschel is the hottest property right now in golf – the American underlined his red hot streak with a tenth straight round in the 60s to plot his way to a two shot lead at the Tour Championship. Runner up at Deutsche Bank Championship and winner at the BMW Championship, the past two weeks, Horschel produced an encore 66 in the second round at Atlanta to enter the weekend as the hot favourite to clinch the FedExCup title. Rory McIlroy is right behind Horschel after making five-under 65 in the second round at the East Lake course. Horschel leads McIlroy by two with the American at 8-under 132.

It is boiling down to perhaps Horschel, McIlroy and Chris Kirk as they race toward the finish line where a $10mn prize waits invitingly, besides the honour of being the FedExCup winner. Horschel had an up and down march on his outward stroll – going two-under through three holes, before giving it back to the course with bogeys at the fifth and seventh.

He recovered nicely from there, posting a birdie at the ninth to turn toward home with some positive energy. Birdies at the 11th, 14th and 17th enabled Horschel to take command of the leaderboard, going into the final weekend of what has been an exciting season of golf. “I’m a guy that when I feel good about my game, I’ve got some confidence that I’m going to figure out some way to play well and post a number,” Horschel said, after making 66-66 in the first two rounds.

The day’s highlights included an even par for McIlroy at the 14th hole. The 25 year old fired his tee shot into the pine trees that line the fairway and after clattering around the branches for a bit came rolling down. No one knew where it had landed until a bemused fan realised it had settled into the pocket of his shorts. McIlroy received a free drop under rule 19-1-a and he saved par from there to ensure there was no real damage.

McIlroy produced some great form too – six birdies, included two at the last two holes underlined his quest to put the icing on an already impressive haul this season. McIlroy made those last two birdies from outside twenty feet suggesting that he could be reckoned with this weekend to challenger Horschel to the wire. “I’m the one that’s had the great season,” said McIlroy, who is eyeing the FedExCup and the $10 million bonus that could come his way with victory at the season finale. “Those are the guys that are trying to cap off a great season for themselves,” he added referring to the other men in the fray. “(The FedExCup) would be the icing on the cake, really. I wanted to cap it off in style and I’ve given myself a chance to do that over the next two days.”

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