Rory McIlroy leads the charge at PGA

Rory McIlroy is in familiar territory. The Northern Irishman will carry a one stroke advantage into a promising weekend of intensely competitive golf at the Valhalla Golf Club. Only four strokes separate fifteen eager men on a crowded leaderboard at the PGA Championship. But it is McIlroy, who will surge confidently into the weekend, aware that he could scrap around a 67 on a day when he wasn’t playing his best golf. At nine under, McIlroy has one on Jason Day and Jim Furyk. Ryan Palmer, Rickie Fowler and Mikko Ilonen are all two shots back at seven under, so there is still plenty left to happen over the final 36 holes of major championship play this season.

McIlroy made four birdies and two bogeys, but signed off in style with an eagle at the eighteen to sound the bugle for the weekend. The battle promises to be intense, with men such as Fowler, many punters pick for this week lying within striking range of the 25 year old world No.1. Day made the low score of the day, a 65 fuelled by three birdies and an eagle at the seventh as he raced through the front nine in just 30 shots. He seemed to slip a tad at the 15th, when he made his first bogey of the day, but successive birdies at the final two holes saw him jump to eight under after two rounds.

Furyk made bogeys at 10 & 12, but five birdies on the day meant that his card read 68 to help him get firmly into contention for the weekend. Phil Mickelson, who was two under after the first, produced a 67 to join Bernd Wiesberger in a tie for seventh. The overnight leader, Lee Westwood slid into a large group of men at T9 when he failed to reproduce the brilliance that followed him on Thursday.

The Englishman made 72, a poor follow through effort after a 65 in the first round, as he settled into a collection of seven stars that included Henrik Stenson and Louis Oosthuizen. But the stage is being prepared again for a glorious weekend for McIlroy, who could become the first golfer since Padraig Harrington in 2008 to win back to back majors.

Report by Anand Datla

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Pic: PGA Tour Website