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Rory McIlroy fired a second round 66 to move up the leader board on Friday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Florida and remains five strokes off tournament leader, Morgan Hoffman at the halfway stage.
After a frustrating opening round which saw McIlroy hit 17 of 18 greens in regulation but take 34 putts with a cold putter, the Northern Irishman was transformed on the greens in a second round for a midway total of 136, eight-under-par.
Although he hit just 12 of 18 greens on Friday, McIlroy used the putter like a magic wand and required only 25 putts to catapult up the leaderboard and become one of Hoffman’s chief pursuers.
A sequence of five straight birdies constituted the best of McIlroy’s PGA Tour career and came in a stretch from the second to the sixth holes, the 11th to 15th of his round having started on the tenth: he got the run going with a 15 footer on the second; hit a gap wedge 126 yards to three feet on the third; rolled in a short putt for birdie on the Par 5 fourth; hit a lovely approach from 144 yards to tap in distance on the fifth, then completed the sequence with an eight-footer on the sixth.
McIlroy took his time to get going but, once he did, there was no stopping him. “At that point, it feels pretty easy,” he explained of getting into the zone with a run of five birdies. “You can sort of feel the momentum building.”
Having brought his coach Michael Bannon over to Florida for a five-day session following inconsistencies with his swing in the WGC-Cadillac championship a fortnight ago, McIlroy was very much back in the groove at Bay Hill to set about chasing down Hoffman. The American assumed the clubhouse lead with a second round 65 to add to his opening 66 for a midway total of 131, as he searches for a maiden tour win.
McIlroy said: “”It was good. I didn’t play as well tee-to-green (as Thursday) but the putter is a great equaliser. Maybe I can creep up the leaderboard a little bit the next two days.”
Hoffman attributed his good form - and quest for a first career win on the PGA Tour - to being “mellow” and “trying to hit the middle of the greens.” He explained: “If you hit the fairways, you have better scoring opportunities and I execute (the game plan) well. I’ve been working on putting and chipping. My caddie and I are betting each other if I can chip in . . . . I know (the win) will come eventually. If this weekend, so be it.”
Among those chasing Hoffman going into the weekend will be defending champion Matt Every, who shot a 66 for 134.
Pádraig Harrington added a second 68 to sit five-under-par, at the halfway stage.
The winner of the Honda Classic just three weeks ago - was cruising along until hitting some speed bumps. Harrington ran up three successive birdies from the 14th to the 16th but demonstrated typical resilience to birdie the 17th, where he sank a 15 footer, to get under par again for the round.
Graeme McDowell finished with a second round 72 for 144 and Shane Lowry improved by five strokes on his opening round with a 70 for 145.
Both were destined to miss the cut. Lowry was three-under for his round coming down the stretch but failed to birdie either of the two Par 5s coming in and suffered a bogey on the Par 3 seventh after he put his tee shot in a greenside bunker.
The missed cut was Lowry’s first on tour going back to last June’s Irish Open at Fota Island. The Offalyman continues his build-up to a maiden appearance in the Masters by competing - like McDowell - in next week’s Valero Texas Open in San Antonio.
