Golf

Rory McIlroy drops back as Jason Day leads at Wells Fargo

Australian opens up a three shot lead heading into weekend as Power misses cut

Jason Day leads at the Wells Fargo Championship. Photograph: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Sat May 7 2022 - 11:41

Rory McIlroy dropped down the leaderboard on day two of the Wells Fargo Championship with a second round of 73. Three bogeys on the front nine had the Northern Irishman under pressure taking the turn, but shots picked up at 10 and 14 looked to have stopped the rot somewhat.

That was until further dropped shots at 15 and 17 brought him back to even par for the tournament and into a share for 50th.

Seamus Power missed the cut after a second round 72 saw him on two over for the tournament, two shots outside the cut mark.

Jason Day of Australia posted a three under 67 to open up a three shot lead. Day, who leapt ahead Thursday with a first-round 63, moved to 10-under 130 for his lowest 36-hole score in five years.

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Max Homa shot a second-round 66 to take sole possession of second place at seven under. Luke List (66), Kurt Kitayama (67), James Hahn (68) and Denny McCarthy (69) were tied for third at 6 under.

Day, a former world number one, continued a nice run of form Friday at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm. After opening his round on the back nine and playing it to even par, he made three birdies and no bogeys on the front nine, including a 14-foot birdie putt at the par-3 third hole and an 11-footer at the par-4 eighth.

“It’s nice to be able to get in at 10 under through two rounds, especially with what kind of weather we’ve got coming in on the weekend,” Day said. “I’m looking forward to it. It’s nice to be back in the mix, nice to be leading. It’s still two more days left, so I can’t get too far ahead of myself.”

Day is in search of his 13th win on tour and his first since the 2018 Wells Fargo. That victory came at the tournament’s usual home of Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina. TPC Potomac is filling in for 2022, with Quail Hollow set to host the Presidents Cup in the fall.

Homa also started his round on the back nine and began the day with an eagle at the par-five 10th. He reached the green in two and had less than 14 feet to convert the eagle.

That eagle and five birdies helped him counteract three bogeys.

“I thought I played awesome for two days,” Homa said. “Yesterday I played a really great round of golf and messed it up with probably just a bad decision off the tee and then a few bad shots in a row.

“But I’ve played great. I’ve hit the ball really well, I’ve hit my driver well, I’ve hit my irons great, I’ve made a ton of putts the last 27 holes.”

McCarthy, a native of nearby Rockville, Maryland, continued his best showing of the season. The world number 157 secured the best 36-hole position of his PGA Tour career.

He will aim to win his first win on tour in front of family and friends in his home state, though he said he isn’t thinking about that possibility.

“Obviously that would be great, but I’m in such a good mindset on the course right now where I think once I get on the course ... it’s still fun being in this position where I know I’m towards the top of the lead and I feel comfortable doing it,” McCarthy said.

Keegan Bradley shot the round of the day, a five under 65, with seven birdies and two bogeys. He moved into a tie for seventh with Chad Ramey (66) and Brian Harman (66) at five under.

Friday’s round was played in wet, cold conditions and Saturday’s weather forecast promises more of the same. The PGA Tour will use threesomes and start on both the first and 10th tees, like the first two days, in an effort to complete the third round earlier.

Sergio Garcia of Spain (two under), Rickie Fowler (two under) and Tony Finau (two under) were among those to make the cut of even par or better. Among those on the wrong side of the cut line were former major champions Gary Woodland and Webb Simpson (both 5 over).

Collated second round scores in the USPGA Tour Wells Fargo Championship, TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm, Potomac, Maryland, United States of America

(USA unless stated, Par 70):

130 Jason Day (Aus) 63 67

133 Max Homa 67 66

134 James Hahn 66 68, Kurt Kitayama 67 67, Luke List 68 66, Denny McCarthy 65 69

135 Keegan Bradley 70 65, Brian Harman 69 66, Chad Ramey 69 66

136 Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 68 68, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 70 66, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 68 68, Rory Sabbatini (Svk) 67 69

137 Abraham Ancer (Mex) 69 68, J. T. Poston 68 69, Adam Schenk 69 68, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 68 69

138 Tony Finau 69 69, Rickie Fowler 66 72, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 67 71, Stephan Jaeger (Ger) 67 71, Hank Lebioda 68 70, Justin Lower 68 70, Ben Martin 68 70, Scott Piercy 67 71, Brendan Steele 68 70, Camilo Villegas (Col) 69 69, Matthew Wolff 65 73

139 Ryan Armour 72 67, Paul Barjon (Fra) 65 74, Kevin Chappell 70 69, Stewart Cink 66 73, Joel Dahmen 64 75, Luke Donald (Eng) 71 68, Lanto Griffin 70 69, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 66 73, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 67 72, Ben Kohles 67 72, Martin Laird (Sco) 70 69, Kyoung-Hoon Lee (Kor) 66 73, Matthew NeSmith 67 72, Henrik Norlander (Swe) 70 69, Chengtsung Pan (Tai) 68 71, Austin Smotherman 68 71, Callum Tarren (Eng) 65 74, Dawie van der Walt (Rsa) 69 70, Dylan Wu 66 73, Cameron Young 68 71, Turk Pettit 67 72

140 Corey Conners (Can) 69 71, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 71 69, Michael Gligic (Can) 71 69, Russell Henley 68 72, Russell Knox (Sco) 68 72, Kelly Kraft 70 70, Matt Kuchar 67 73, Peter Malnati 67 73, Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 67 73, Troy Merritt 71 69, Taylor Moore 69 71, Chez Reavie 69 71, Chase Seiffert 67 73, Nick Taylor (Can) 67 73, Michael Thompson 71 69, David Lingmerth (Swe) 71 69

141 Jonas Blixt (Swe) 71 70, Austin Cook 67 74, Jim Herman 67 74, Harry Higgs 67 74, Jim Knous 67 74, Danny Lee (Nzl) 68 73, Adam Long 70 71, William McGirt 68 73, Aaron Rai (Eng) 65 76, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 70 71, Sepp Straka (Aut) 70 71, Vaughn Taylor 69 72, Peter Uihlein 68 73

142 Hayden Buckley 69 73, Cameron Davis (Aus) 67 75, Doug Ghim 71 71, Scott Gutschewski 68 74, Brandon Hagy 69 73, Charley Hoffman 71 71, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 69 73, Cameron Percy (Aus) 70 72, Seamus Power (Irl) 70 72, Andrew Putnam 71 71, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 70 72, Nick Watney 66 76

143 Ryan Blaum 72 71, Kramer Hickok 70 73, Marc Leishman (Aus) 68 75, Keith Mitchell 69 74, Matt Wallace (Eng) 67 76, Jared Wolfe 72 71, Brandon Wu 70 73, Tommy Gainey 71 72

144 Wesley Bryan 66 78, Brett Drewitt (Aus) 72 72, Lee Hodges 75 69, Zach Johnson 70 74, David Lipsky 69 75, Kevin Tway 73 71

145 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 73 72, Mark Hubbard 71 74, Matt Jones (Aus) 73 72, Webb Simpson 69 76, David Skinns (Eng) 70 75, Alex Smalley 70 75, Adam Svensson (Can) 66 79, Gary Woodland 70 75, Drew Nesbitt (Can) 68 77, Norman Xiong 75 70, Jason Dufner 70 75

146 Joseph Bramlett 70 76, Jacob Bridgeman 76 70, Jonathan Byrd 72 74, Joshua Creel 73 73, Brice Garnett 71 75, Branden Grace (Rsa) 74 72, John Huh 71 75, Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn) 73 73, Kevin Streelman 74 72, Brian Stuard 72 74, Vincent Whaley 72 74

147 Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra (Spa) 73 74, Tyler Duncan 72 75, Lucas Glover 74 73, Bo Hoag 72 75, Sung-Hoon Kang (Kor) 71 76, Brandon Matthews 70 77, Bryson Nimmer 70 77, Patrick Reed 68 79, Seth Reeves 69 78, Greyson Sigg 71 76, Nicholas Thompson 77 70, Robert Garrigus 69 78

148 Chesson Hadley 70 78, Trey Mullinax 70 78, Andrew Novak 71 77, Doc Redman 74 74, Roger Sloan (Can) 69 79, Bo Van Pelt 72 76, Richy Werenski 68 80

149 Bill Haas 73 76

151 Max McGreevy 77 74, Johnson Wagner 72 79

152 Greg Odom 77 75

153 Morgan Hoffmann 73 80

154 Beau Hossler 77 77

157 Larkin Gross 74 83

158 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 74 84