Rory McIlroy insists he is still in contention after reaching the halfway mark of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am six shots off the lead.
McIlroy’s final putt of his second round was a birdie as the Northern Irishman – in his first appearance of the season on the PGA Tour – shot a 67 for 135 in tied-17th that enabled him to stay in contention of his defence of the $20 million purse tournament on the PGA Tour.
In his first $20 million signature tournament of the year on the PGA Tour, McIlroy – who has switched back to blades rather than cavity back irons – contended so that he was in a position to play catch-up on 36-holes leaders Akshay Bhatia and Ryo Hitsatsune, who sat on 129.
McIlroy is playing for the first time stateside after opening his season with back to back events in Dubai on the DP World Tour.
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Shane Lowry, the only other Irish player in the limited-field event, shot a 69 in his second round for 136 in tied-22nd.
“I feel like I’ve been a little bit wasteful the last two days and maybe not capitalised on those great starts. It’s very low scoring, it’s soft. Hopefully if I can get off to a good start again tomorrow and pick up a few shots early I’ll be right in the mix,” said McIlroy.
“Yeah, game feels pretty good actually, feels a little bit better than it did in Dubai a couple weeks ago. Just trying to keep building on that,” said McIlroy.
“Sunday looks like it could be pretty messy and a lot of things could happen, so the closer you are to the lead Sunday the better. Even if I am a few behind going into Sunday, everyone will have a chance given those conditions.” – additional reporting: PA
