Slowly but surely Rory McIlroy made his move as a second round 68 for a midway total of four-under-par 140 lifted the Northern Irishman up the leader board at the $20 million Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Country Club in Orlando to whet the appetite for a weekend charge.
The world number two moved with stealth, dropping only one shot – where an ill-considered shot from thick rough found the water on the eighth hole – to go with five birdies as he edged into the top-10 in pursuit of American Daniel Berger, who is five shots clear of the field on 13 under..
McIlroy had opened with a level par 72 on Thursday and got some early momentum with a birdie on the Par 5 fourth hole, hitting his approach from 242 yards to 28 feet and two-putting. However, the course got a shot back on the eighth where McIlroy pulled his drive into rough and, in an aggressive play, paid the price in finding the water. After a penalty drop, he did well to salvage a bogey in keeping a big number off the scorecard.
“I really felt like that kept any momentum that I had for the round going,” said McIlroy. “I played the last 10 holes really, really well. Overall, I’m really pleased. I played a very sort of controlled, patient round of golf, which you need to do around here. Yeah, a good day’s work.”
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That bogey was to be McIlroy’s only blip as he came home in 32 strokes with four birdies – on the 10th, 12th, 13th and 16th – and made a fine par on the 18th after his tee shot drifted into the right rough. His recovery was as good as could be, finding the putting surface and two-putting from 70 feet.
On the 10th, McIlroy’s approach finished 10 feet from the flag and he rolled in the putt; he reached the Par 5 12th in two, two-putting for birdie; hit a wedge to nine feet on the 13th; and found the green on the Par 5 16th in two with an approach from a fairway bunker and two-putted for his fifth birdie of the round.
McIlroy’s scorecards from the first to second round showed a four-stroke improvement, leaving the likes of his double bogey six on the 13th behind him in the first round.
“I felt like I played (Thursday) okay as well. I made a couple of big numbers. I felt like the wind got very strong on us for a portion of the back nine yesterday, it definitely got a lot tougher. I wasn’t too displeased with how I played, I just didn’t hold it together and score the way I wanted to coming down the last few holes, but I felt like my game’s in pretty good shape the last couple days,” said McIlroy.
With the course expected to firm-up even further over the weekend, he said patience will be a key proponent for those eyeing the prize.
As he put it: “It’s going to be really difficult. It’s difficult even if you hit the ball in the fairway, with this little bit of breeze, with the firm greens. I mean, it’s hard to get the ball close. You’re hitting good iron shots to 25, 30 feet all the time, and then you’re not going to make a lot of those. So really you have to make the bulk of your score on the Par 5s and just stay really patient for the rest of the way.”
Shane Lowry missed the cut after coming home in two-over 38 with a bogey on the 18th sealing his fate as he dropped one shot outside the cut mark.
