Rory McIlroy uses late birdie binge to make Australian Open cut

Rory McIlroy birdied three of his final four holes on Friday to get inside the cut line at the Australian Open.

The world's No. 2-ranked player was in danger of missing the weekend at Royal Melbourne Golf Club following a bogey on the par-5 14th hole that included a whiffed shot from under the trees and dropped him to 1-over par for the tournament. McIlroy promptly birdied the following hole and added two more birdies to close his round and card a 3-under 68.

McIlroy is 2 under for the tournament, with the cut line falling at 1 under. The Northern Irishman will begin Saturday's third round seven shots off the lead shared by Denmark's Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and Portugal's Daniel Rodrigues, who is currently No. 1,319 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Australia's Min Woo Lee is one shot back at 8 under, followed by a trio at 7 under that includes fellow Australians Adam Scott and Cam Smith along with Mexico's Carlos Ortiz. Smith snapped a string of seven consecutive missed cuts outside of the LIV Golf league.

McIlroy is coming off a playoff loss at last month's DP World Championship and is playing in the Australian Open for the first time since 2014. He won the tournament in 2013, but sits in a tie for 57th midway through this year's event.

"I certainly haven't had my best stuff over the last couple of days, but it was nice to finish the way that I did," McIlroy said. "It wasn't looking great after the bogey on 14, but overall, a great finish (and) delighted to be here for the weekend.

"Seven isn't too far back. I feel like if I can go out tomorrow morning and shoot a good one, I can get myself right back into the tournament."

--Field Level Media