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Rory McIlroy was more like as his old self as he played his way back into the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Golf Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Not only was his swagger back, and a smile rather than a grimace, so too did his driver behave as he shot a second round 66 to go with his opening 72 for midway total of four-under-par 138, lurking just two shots adrift of clubhouse leaders Matt Wallace, Patrick Rodgers and Gary Woodland.
If not quite like flicking a switch, the Northern Irishman was transformed with his driver in hand which contributed to a strokes gained tee-to-green statistic of 5.66 that was his best on the PGA Tour dating back to 2019.
“The one thing I was really happy about coming in here was my iron play, I felt like I found something last week. I didn’t get much chance to show it (in the first round) because I wasn’t finding the fairway very much, but today I had more opportunities to hit good iron shots and give myself birdie chances,” said McIlroy, who hit 15 greens in regulation in claiming six birdies and a lone bogey to leapfrog into contention.
McIlroy, without a win on tour going back to the WGC-HSBC in December 2019, took three weeks off after missing the cut at the Masters and worked with Pete Cowen at home in Florida before returning to competition, added: “When you’re playing bad, you feel so far away; and when you’re playing good, you always think to yourself, ‘how did I feel like I was so far away?’ It’s such fine margins . . . I worked hard after Augusta, took a week off and reset, which I needed, but then I put my head down and worked hard and at least felt better about everything coming in here.”
A two-time winner of the Wells Fargo, in 2010 and again in 2015, McIlroy’s move into the business part of affairs will provide an extra pep in his step going into the weekend, where Séamus Power - who added a 72 to his opening 71 for 143 - will also seek to gain some forward momentum.
Shane Lowry paid a heavy price for a wild drive on the Par 5 15th, where he ran up a double bogey seen en route to a second round 73 for a two-over-par 144.
European Tour
On the European Tour, Niall Kearney - the 33-year-old Dubliner - continued his strong run of form with a second round 64 for a midway total of 10-under-par 132 for a share of 11th place, four strokes behind leader Adri Arnaus.
“I’ve got a good process going, a good game plan for the course and I’m just trying to let it happen rather than trying to force it,” said Kearney, who included 10 birdies in his round with his putter again proving a strong part of his armoury.
Paul Dunne recovered from a bad stretch - incurring two bogeys and a double from the fourth to the seventh - to sign for a 71 for 136, six-under, to lie in tied-46th to survive into the weekend. But Cormac Sharvin, Jonathan Caldwell and Tom McKibbin all missed the cut.
Meanwhile, Michael Hoey remained in contention in the Dimension Data Pro-Am at Fancourt on the Challenge Tour where the 42-year-old’s second round 71 for a midway total of 10-under-par 134 left him a shot behind leaders Wilco Nienaber, Jaco Ahlers and Henric Sturehed with 10 players unable to complete their rounds due to fading light.