LAST UPDATE | 20 May 2023
SHANE LOWRY and Rory McIlroy both finished on level par after shooting a 67 and 69 respectively on day two of the US PGA Championship.
Despite continuing to struggle off the tee, McIlroy carded a second round of 69 for a halfway total of level par to lie just five off the lead shared by Scottie Scheffler, Corey Conners and Viktor Hovland.
First round leader Bryson DeChambeau and fellow American Justin Suh were two shots off the lead, with England’s Callum Tarren – who only secured a place in the field on Friday after former champion Martin Kaymer withdrew – another stroke back after a superb 67.
Rory McIlroy was stunned to find himself only five strokes off the pace halfway through the PGA Championship as bad as his drives have been at Oak Hill.
The four-time major-winner from Northern Ireland closed with a 16-foot birdie putt to fire a one-under-par 69 in Friday’s second round to share 10th on level par 140.
But McIlroy has felt ill at times and managed to find the fairway in only seven of 28 oppotunities, spraying errant tee shots in all directions, testing his patience.
“I need to be patient with the way I’m hitting it off the tee,” he said. “I stayed really patient. I think my patience was rewarded with a couple of good breaks and a couple of birdies coming in.”
If McIlroy could find his form over the weekend, it’s not impossible he could end a nine-year major drought.
“I think how terribly I’ve felt over the golf ball over the last two days, the fact that I’m only five back — not saying I could be up there with one of my best performances, but when I holed that putt at the last, I looked at the board and I thought, ‘I can’t believe I’m five back,’” McIlroy said.
“I guess that’s a good thing because I know if I can get it in play off the tee, that’s the key to my success over the weekend. If I can get the ball in play off the tee, I’ll have a shot.”
That will get trickier on Saturday when rain is forecast all day and thick rough becomes even tougher for shotmaking.
“Even the little bit of rain that we had today, the rough definitely got a lot stickier and thicker,” McIlroy said. “The ball was coming out slower out of the rough those last few holes.”
McIlroy said he might just go for broke when it comes to ball bashing off the tee.
“At this point I might just tee it high and just bomb it everywhere,” McIlroy said. “I hit my last two tee shots on 17 and 18 really hard, and they actually were really good tee shots.
“As long as you’re missing it in the right spots off the tees, I might as well just go for it and swing hard.”
McIlroy is also recovering from illness.
“I felt better today,” he said. “Hopefully that trend continues over the weekend.”
Padraig Harrington trails his fellow Irish stars by three shots after shooting a 71 to leave him on three over.
It was another disappointing day for Seamus Power, meanwhile.
Following yesterday’s 75, the Waterford native registered a 74 today. It left him nine over and he is consequently set to miss the cut.
Masters runner-up Brooks Koepka was alongside Tarren on two under thanks to a 66 which included four birdies in the last seven holes.
Justin Rose hit just two fairways but somehow conjured up a second round of 70 to lie one under.
World number one Jon Rahm shot 68 to make the halfway cut on four over par, but playing partner and US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick bogeyed the last two holes to miss out by a shot.
Club professional Michael Block had earlier insisted he could contend for an extraordinary victory after a second consecutive 70 saw him on the same score as McIlroy and Lowry.
Block, who is one of 20 PGA professionals in the field in Rochester and the head pro at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in California, made the cut for the first time in seven majors, but was setting his sights considerably higher.
Additional reporting by PA
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