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Rory McIlroy remained at the head of affairs on nine under par in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at the Bay Hill course two thirds of the way through his second round, albeit joined at the top of the leaderboard by Viktor Hovland.
The Northern Ireland golfer recovered from a dropped shot at the opening hole, when he failed to get up and down having missed the green to grab three birdies before the turn; it could have been even better, his eagle putt on the fourth finishing half a roll short.
There is generally a pivotal moment in a round and McIlroy stared down his on the ninth having driven into the rough but rescued a par by holing from six feet. It allowed him to turn in two under and retain a share of the lead alongside Hovland.
The Norwegian had climbed through the field with a brilliant, six under 66, a round that included seven birdies and just a single dropped shot.
Graeme McDowell’s round imploded on the par four 11th when he pulled his approach into the lake and ran up a triple bogey seven. He was five under for the tournament at one point on the front nine before the calamity as he fell further with another bogey soon after.
Padraig Harrington, who started on the 10th turned in level par for his round and one over for the tournament but was left to rue a double bogey on the par five, sixth when he took four to reach the green and three-putted. A bogey on the ninth to sign for a 74 that left him on the cut line.
Seamus Power’s opening 80 meant that he was never in contention to play the four rounds but he would have derived some satisfaction from a level par, 72 in his second round.
Leona Maguire dropped two shots in the last three holes of a second round, level par, 72, that left her six shots behind joint leaders, world number one Jin Young Ko and Amy Yang, on two under after 36-holes of the ‘no-cut’ HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore.
The Cavan golfer had three birdies and the same number of bogeys on the Tanjong layout and is in a tie for 26th place. She admitted: “It’s been hard to get some momentum on this golf course. I haven’t given myself enough chances. I didn’t quite play my best, and it was just a bit of a slow day.”She said that her goal at the weekend was to improve her iron play and hole a few putts.
Meanwhile Niall Kearney was best of the Irish on one under par at the halfway point of the Magical Kenya Open on the DP World Tour, nine shots behind the leader India’s Shubhankar Sharma (-10). The Dubliner was three over for the front nine of his second round but four birdies and a bogey saw him sign for a 71.
Paul Dunne (70, 72), Cormac Sharvin (70, 72) and Jonathan Caldwell (76, 66) also made the weekend on the level par cut mark but Gavin Moynihan (70, 73) missed out by a shot.