Rory McIlroy produced a battling 71 to maintain chief Corey Conners in his sights after a topsy-turvy second spherical within the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.
eeking his first win for 16 months, the World No 8 was off color along with his irons however took simply 26 putts as he combined three bogeys with 4 birdies to share third place with Viktor Hovland on seven-under, two photographs behind Canadian Conners
“It was very scrappy,” admitted McIlroy, who tops the sphere for placing. “There have been a number of misses in there proper and left however I do know what I’ve to work on. It was a battling spherical however I stored myself within the event.
“I picked off three of the par-5s, which is nice round right here. Once I put it in bother I bought it out of bother.
“I hit a number of higher photographs coming down the stretch, however simply going to go and work on a pair issues right here on the vary now. I’m nonetheless in with an excellent likelihood going into the weekend.”
Conners (29) adopted his opening 66 with a 69, knocking in a 24 footer for an eagle three on the sixteenth to guide by a shot from Scotland’s Martin Laird, who shot 67, on nine-under.
Pádraig Harrington had 32 putts and completed with again to again bogeys for a 74 that left him tied thirty eighth nevertheless it was one other week to overlook for Shane Lowry and Graeme McDowell as they missed the lower.
Lowry added a 74 to his opening 75 to complete alongside McDowell, who recovered from his opening 79 with a 70, on five-over par.
Struggling once more on the greens, the reigning Open champion missed eight putts inside 10 ft over the 2 days to languish close to the again of the sphere for strokes gained placing.
In a worrying pattern for his hopes of Ryder Cup qualification, the Clara man (33) has damaged par in simply 5 of his 16 aggressive rounds thus far this season whereas McDowell has missed three of his first 4 cuts.
After discovering water twice on the eleventh, his second, to run up an early double-bogey six on Friday, the Portrush man responded with 5 birdies earlier than dropping one other shot on the final.
In the meantime, Leona Maguire made three birdies in a one-under 71 to stay in competition for her maiden LPGA win within the LPGA Drive On Championship at Golden Ocala in Florida.
The Slieve Russell star (26) remained tied for sixth on 4 beneath, simply six photographs behind Jennifer Kupcho and Austin Ernst who shot 6s7 to guide by two strokes on 10-under from Spain’s Carlota Ciganda.
Stephanie Meadow had a troublesome day along with her irons and carded a three-over 75 to slide again to tied 56th on two-over.
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