Rory McIlroy: My second round at Travelers was ‘little bit better’ despite late double-bogey woe

On Thursday the par-three was a source of great joy for McIlroy, who holed out with his tee shot for his first ever hole-in-one on the PGA Tour, and it seemed to spark an improved performance on his back nine.

But on Friday it would be a momentum staller, the Holywood man reaching the eighth – which was his 17th hole having started at the 10th – at eight-under for the day and 10-under overall, just two shots off the lead at the time, only to find water off the tee and take a double-bogey five.

Still, overall it was an excellent day for McIlroy, who carded eight birdies on his way to a six-under 64 – the double-bogey his only blemish on an otherwise incident-free scorecard – and he will enter the weekend eight-under-par and inside the top-10 on the leaderboard.

Despite how good the World No.3 was, he will enter the weekend at least seven shots off the lead after a sublime performance from Denny McCarthy, the American backing up his unbelievable 10-under 60 in his opening round with a five-under 65 on day two to lead by four from Eric Cole at 15-under-par.

But back to McIlroy and he was on top form around the greens, which will no doubt please him after some recent struggles, particularly in the final round of last week’s US Open, as he rolled in over 120-feet worth of putts and made up-and-down three out of the four times his wedges were called upon.

"It was much better. Way better on the greens as well,” said McIlroy of his improvement from Thursday to Friday.

"I think when you can get out in the morning here the greens are so much better. They haven't started to seed yet and they're not quite as bumpy as the afternoon.

“There was a lot of 20-footers in the afternoon (on Thursday) and you're just trying to finish by the hole because you don't want to have the three- and four-footers on the way back. (In the morning) you can be a little more aggressive with your putts, and that paid off for me this morning and I held quite a few.

“Everything was just a little bit better today. I played more solid, gave myself more opportunities, you know, eradicated most of the mistakes I made yesterday.”

The only downside was a misjudged eight-iron at the par-three eighth, which caught up in the wind and found the lake in front of the green, leading to a penalty drop and, eventually, a double-bogey five only a day after acing it.

"Most of the day we've been playing the wind out of the sort of southeast. I felt if, anything, it might have just moved to the east, which would've been straight off the right,” explained McIlroy.

"I hit my eight-iron 175 yards for the most part, so I thought if I just hit a really good eight-iron I would get it to pitch pretty much between the front edge of the green and the hole, sort of like what (playing partner) Viktor (Hovland)'s did. It just got hit by a little bit of wind. The wind just sort of switched on us.

"Hit a pretty good shot, I just misjudged the wind a little bit and it came up short – the one place you couldn't miss today on that hole. Other than that, it was a really good round of golf.”

McIlroy started on the back nine and was quickly under-par after rolling in an 18-footer for birdie on the par-three 11th, and he followed that up with back-to-back birdies at the par-fours 14 and 15.

The 32-year-old was doing his scoring in bunches and it was his putter doing the damage, with two more sets of back-to-back birdies coming at the par-fours 17 and 18 – the former another fine 13-foot putt – and then the par-fours second and third thanks to 14- and 24-footers respectively.

After saving par at the par-three fifth, McIlroy would hit the par-five sixth in two and two-putted for his eighth birdie of the day, but his round would end on a sour note after ending up wet on the eighth, and a par at the short par-four ninth secured a 64.

It has been a punishing schedule for McIlroy recently, particularly given how close he came to ending his Major duck at Los Angeles Country Club last week, but the Northern Irishman insisted: “I actually feel okay. I think two days at home in between LA and here was nice to not really do anything.

"For my fourth week in a row, I actually feel okay, which is a pleasant surprise.”

McCarthy, who was one shot away from a sub-60 round at TPC River Highlands on Thursday, bounced back from an early bogey with five birdies on his inward nine for a 65 to set the pace at 15-under-par, with Cole his nearest challenger after the early morning starters finished their rounds after a 65 of his own saw him finish at 11-under-par.

Meanwhile, on the DP World Tour, Tom McKibbin endured a horror second round as he slumped to an 11-over 83 at the BMW International Open in Germany to miss the cut.

The Holywood star, who became a Tour winner for the first time at his last event at the Porsche European Open, looked to still be in form when he opened with a tidy four-under 68 in his first round, leaving him two strokes off the lead.

However, two birdies, six bogeys and a disastrous septuple-bogey 11 at the 16th saw him fall to seven-over-par overall miss out on the weekend for the first time in his last three events.

McKibbin would find the water three times at the par-four, once from the fairway and twice after chipping through the green from the back of the putting surface, and that would end his hopes of making the cut.