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It's roaring Rory's US Open to lose

Rory McIlroy's dominance was obvious © Getty Images

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ESPN will be providing live commentary during all four days of the US Open from Congressional CC - along with all the news, views and opinion when it gets underway on Thursday

Rory McIlroy had already moved two shots further ahead of the field when he hit a fizzing wedge into the par-four 8th, on day two of the US Open.

For a brief moment the huge crowds around the green fell silent, squinting into the sunlight for a glimpse of the Northern Irishman's ball as it arced towards its target.

And then it landed with a thud. And then it spun. And then it caught the slope, rolled casually back towards the hole and disappeared from view.

It might not have been Sunday at Augusta, and it might not have been a red-shirted Tiger from the fringe, but it felt pretty close to it.

And as yet another Rory roar filled the air, Phil Mickelson - a four-time major champion and arguably the second best player of his generation - turned back up the fairway and offered his playing partner a hearty round of applause in acknowledgement.

This US Open should have been Mickelson's moment - his chance to finally win at the 21st attempt and lay the ghost of his five runners-up finishes. But the tournament's great pretender has been powerless to stop its next big thing.

While Lefty scrambled, Rory soared - and by the time they walked off the course in time for brunch, McIlroy was 12 shots ahead of him.

For two days straight the 41-year-old American has watched Holywood's favourite son take this Congressional course hostage - shooting rounds of 65 and 66 to set a new 36-hole record for the US Open and leave the chasing pack in his wake.

On Friday, McIlroy was so polished, and so precise, that Mickelson was several times moved to laughter at the ridiculous brilliance of the boy wonder beside him.

"He's striking it flawlessly and putting great on the greens," Mickelson said.

Not even a watery double-bogey at the last could dampen McIlroy's achievements. They were his first dropped shots of the tournament, and it's arguably better he lost them now than carry the record into the weekend.

Perhaps a humbling end was exactly what McIlroy needed to re-focus for the challenge ahead.

That one mistake at 18 aside, McIlroy has negotiated this treacherous golf course with such consummate ease you'd be forgiven for thinking he was playing a different layout to the 155 players behind him.

He's hit 32 of 36 greens in regulation and plotted a path around Congressional that nobody else in field seems aware of.

"I'm feeling good, feeling very good," he said after his second round. "It feels quite simple. I'm hitting fairways. I'm hitting greens. I'm holing my fair share of putts."

Just two months on from his Masters meltdown, McIlroy is now odds-on for a second straight Sunday lead at the majors.

And this time the 22-year-old could have such a hold on the 111th US Open that even an implosion of the kind he suffered at Augusta might not be enough to give the field a chance.

Let the name YE Yang deliver a note of caution. It was he who achieved the unprecedented feat of overturning a Tiger lead to win the 2009 USPGA Championship - and it's the Korean player looming largest in the support cast.

Whether Yang can get within touching distance of McIlroy is yet to be seen. On the evidence so far Rory could put himself so far ahead on Saturday that not even Tiger in his pomp could get close to him.

But if things do go wrong, or somebody in the field does something exceptional in the third round to narrow his lead, McIlroy is hoping the lessons learned at Augusta will work in his favour.

"I think I know better than most what can happen," he said.

And with that, the natural heir to Tiger's throne went back to his hotel to contemplate the weekend ahead. He might not be saying it, but you get the feeling he believes he can do to this tournament what Woods did to Pebble Beach in 2000.

The body is willing, the mind is waiting to be examined.

- Will Tidey will be covering the US Open at Congressional Country Club exclusively for ESPN.co.uk. You can send him your questions via Twitter at www.twitter.com/willtidey

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