Rory McIlroy outlines Open comeback plan after making the cut: "I'll be right in it"

Rory McIlroy says if he gets to four or five-under par after the conclusion of moving day at The Open then he can still win the Claret Jug.

McIlroy toiled on day one of the final men's major of the year, carding a wildly entertaining 72 on the Southport links to leave himself with a battle to make the cut. 

But the Masters champion was up to the task, producing a three-under 67 on Friday to move ahead of the projected cut. 

At the halfway stage, he trails leader Lucas Herbert by as many as seven strokes but he still believes there is hope winning a seventh major overall and first Open title since 2014.

"I think the main objective today was to be here for the weekend, which I am," said McIlroy. 

"I felt like I left a couple out there. Then you look at the board and you see a couple of 62s, and you feel like you could have done a bit better."

He added: [I will need to] get off to a decent start tomorrow. There's a couple of guys up there, this will be sort of their first experience of playing in the lead at a major championship on the weekend, so there's obviously some that are very experienced at it like Cam [Young] and like Sam [Burns] as well.

"I think if I can get off to a decent start tomorrow, be four or five-under for the tournament, I'll be right in it."

McIlroy began steadily on day two, playing the first five holes in one-under before dropping his first shot of the day at the sixth having missed the fairway and then the green. 

A nine-foot birdie putt dropped at the eighth but he left an 11-foot eagle putt short at the next hole. 

McIlroy drove the green from 403 yards for the second consecutive day. 

He said the wind was in a completely different direction during his practice rounds and he had not contemplated such aggression off the tee.

"Honestly my game plan was to hit it to the top of the hill and hit a wedge on and go from there, but sometimes opportunities present themselves and you have to take them," he said. 

Asked how he'll approach the weekend, McIlroy said: "It depends on the conditions and the way the wind direction is. 

"I think I've driven the ball so well the last two days. I think anytime I can get a driver in my hand, I'm going to try to [be aggressive]. 

"I just feel like with how I'm feeling with the driver, I think it's a big advantage if I can get the ball down there and take out some of these fairway bunkers.

"I'll continue to do that when I can, and then I'm still trying to figure out these greens a little bit. 

"I've struggled the last couple of days. It was a little better today, but still didn't feel 100 percent comfortable. 

"Hopefully try to figure that out as the week goes on."

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