MELBOURNE, Australia — Not before a bit of back-nine drama at Royal Melbourne, Rory McIlroy has made the weekend at the Australian Open after shooting a 3-under 68 on Friday to finish inside the 36-hole cut line.McIlroy, who was 2-under on the tournament, was seven strokes behind leaders Daniel Rodriques (64) and Rasmus Neergaard-Peterson (66), who had 9-under totals of 133.The leading pair were one shot clear of third-place Min Woo Lee, who shot 65 Friday. Adam Scott (66) was in a tie for fourth with Cameron Smith (65), who avoided adding to his tally of seven consecutive missed cuts.McIlroy started the day at 1-over after a 72 on Thursday, tied for 57th and trailing the leaders by seven shots. At the time, that was just one shot inside the expected cut of 2-over.He birdied one hole and had eight pars on his front nine Friday, then had four more pars before making a bogey on the par-5 14th. He missed the fairway to the right off the tee and ended up under a tea tree. McIlroy then whiffed on his next shot as his club got stuck in a branch but he recovered to make a 6.That put him outside the 36-hole cut, but he birdied the next hole, the par-3 15th, to put himself back at even-par and safe, at least at that stage. He parred the 16th to stay at even-par then perhaps made his shot of the tournament — from the patchy rough on 17, swinging through a small bush this time, where he tapped in for birdie after a long eagle putt went just wide.That moved McIlroy to 1-under on the tournament and up about 20 places on the leaderboard, leaving him safe for the weekend, particularly after he birdied the 18th.“With the wind, it played like a different golf course today,” McIlroy said. “I certainly haven’t played my best over the past couple of days but it was nice to finish the way I did. Delighted to be here for the weekend . . . seven isn’t too far back.”On his whiffed shot from under the trees, he said: …
