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Does someone have Olympic fever? Rory McIlroy already looking forward to Paris

KAWAGOE, Japan – Rory McIlroy isn’t the first professional golfer to succumb to hindsight when it comes to the Olympics, but he is the most high-profile player to make the transition.

McIlroy had made no secret of the fact that he’s playing the Summer Games for the good of golf, not out of a patriotic drive to represent his country or a lifelong dream of winning an Olympic medal.

But after two rounds at Kasumigaseki Country Club, that stand appears to have softened.

“I never obviously competed in an Olympic Games, I watched them from a far, but being a part of something that's completely different and bigger than me and even our sport in general, that's a pretty cool thing,” he said Friday following a second-round 66 that moved him to 7 under, tied with countryman Shane Lowry and four shots off the lead.