Rory McIlroy came back into contention with a two-under-par 69 in Friday’s second round at The Barclays in New York.
Debuting his new Scotty Cameron putter this week, McIlroy enjoyed a much improved round after Thursday’s disappointing 71.
Still seeking his first PGA Tour win of 2016, McIlroy’s round leaves him six shots off Patrick Reed’s lead. McIlroy started brightly with three birdies in his first seven holes, and he added another birdie on the 13th. Yet his round was blemished with bogeys on the 15th and 16th.
For the four-time Major champion, it was an all too familiar mixed round as he failed to maintain momentum.
“I felt like I played okay, disappointed with the finish obviously,” he told reporters on Friday. “I saw some good signs out there, as I keep saying it’s a work in progress and if I can just see little improvements as I go along. It’s not a quick fix, it’s a progression and trying to get a little bit better every week and I’ll just keep working away at it.
“I think one of the big things I’m really excited about is my numbers are back to where they were before the ankle injury. Even at the end of last year and even the first part of this year my ball speed, my swing speed wasn’t quite up to where I sort of wanted it to be.
“I can fully commit and I’m really happy with that, my ball striking’s been good. My wedge play hasn’t been as good as I wanted it to be but off the tee and approach play from sort of 150 and out has been great. The things I need to work on are from 150 min and obviously, you know, the putting.”
Top of the leaderboard is American Reed, at nine under overall. He’s two shots clear of Emiliano Grillo and Rickie Fowler.
FedExCup champion Jordan Spieth rebounded from a double-bogey on his opening hole to also claw his way back into contention.
Stung after running up an ugly six at the par-four 10th, the world number three went on to card a four-under-par 67 on the challenging layout at Bethpage Black.
That left Spieth at four-under 138, in the first of the PGA Tour’s four lucrative FedExCup playoff events. “It’s moments like 11th tee box where I really credit Michael a lot for stepping in, being a real positive voice,” Spieth said of his caddie’s influence, having taken four shots to complete the 10th after finding a greenside bunker with his approach.
“Resetting a goal there was really key for me to get my mind away from what happened and look forward. We started getting some momentum. Obviously the eagle jumps you up there a bit.”
Spieth eagled the par-five fourth after hitting his second shot to two feet. He also pocketed four birdies over his final 10 holes to surge up the leaderboard.
Graeme McDowell ended his round five over par - the Irishman is six-over-par overall, three shots over the weekend’s cut.
