Rory McIlroy followed a first round 68 at the CJ Cup with a bogey-free 67 on Friday but he sits a full nine shots back of Keith Mitchell who takes a five-shot lead into the third round in Las Vegas.
McIlroy cantered through the front nine with four birdies to go out in 32 but a run of eight pars and just one other birdie at the 18th meant he had to settle for a total of nine under after two rounds with Mitchell ahead at 18 under, five clear of Jordan Spieth, Harry Higgs, Adam Scott and Seonghyeon Kim.
“I’m definitely excited and pleased,” said Mitchell. “I spent a lot of time in the last few days leading up to this tournament working hard on my game and it’s showing. I’m very thankful for that, it just shows you that hard work pays off as long as you’re doing the right things. My putter’s definitely been nice and my speed has been a lot better this week. If those two things stay through this weekend, hopefully I can keep hitting in some quality shots and capitalising.”
“I’ve missed the last two cuts and I’ve stood out on the range until dark and then putted until dark on Wednesday because I was not happy with my results,” added Mitchell, who numbered an eagle, seven birdies and a bogey in his second round to take a grip on the tournament.
Shane Lowry carded a second round of 70 after going out in over par before finding three birdies on the back nine but the 2019 British Open champion sits a long way back at one under par in the no cut event.
Scores after the second round of the The CJ Cup (USA unless stated, Par 72)
126 Keith Mitchell 62 64
131 Harry Higgs 64 67, Seong-Hyeon Kim (Kor) 68 63, Adam Scott (Aus) 68 63, Jordan Spieth 66 65
132 Rickie Fowler 66 66, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 67 65
133 Paul Casey (Eng) 68 65, Viktor Hovland (Nor) 65 68, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 71 62, Ian Poulter (Eng) 66 67, Cameron Smith (Aus) 66 67, Robert Streb 61 72, Erik van Rooyen (Rsa) 67 66, Aaron Wise 66 67
134 Maverick McNealy 69 65, Kevin Na 68 66, Hudson Swafford 65 69
135 Abraham Ancer (Mex) 70 65, Sam Burns 67 68, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 65 70, Talor Gooch 67 68, Sung-Hoon Kang (Kor) 71 64, Min-Kyu Kim (Kor) 69 66, Chris Kirk 68 67, Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 68 67, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 66 69
136 Keegan Bradley 70 66, Brian Harman 67 69, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 66 70, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 69 67, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 67 69, Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 71 65, Justin Thomas 69 67
137 Stewart Cink 69 68, Cameron Davis (Aus) 68 69, Russell Henley 68 69, Max Homa 67 70, Sung Jae Im (Kor) 68 69, Brooks Koepka 67 70, Collin Morikawa 67 70, Patrick Reed 71 66, Scottie Scheffler 66 71, Harold Varner III 67 70, Gary Woodland 68 69
138 Kevin Kisner 70 68, Xander Schauffele 69 69, Webb Simpson 69 69
139 Tony Finau 68 71, Lucas Glover 69 70, Tom Hoge 71 68, Matt Jones (Aus) 70 69, Kyoung-Hoon Lee (Kor) 67 72, Marc Leishman (Aus) 70 69
140 Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 70 70, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 68 72, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 72 68, Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den) 69 71, Dustin Johnson 74 66, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 71 69, Jae-Kyeong Lee (Kor) 69 71, Justin Rose (Eng) 75 65
141 Harris English 73 68, Joo-Hyung Kim (Kor) 68 73, Alexander Noren (Swe) 72 69, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 70 71, Sang-Hun Shin (Kor) 71 70, Cameron Tringale 71 70
142 Charley Hoffman 72 70, Patton Kizzire 71 71
143 Jason Day (Aus) 73 70, Han-Byeol Kim (Kor) 74 69, Jason Kokrak 77 66, Shane Lowry (Irl) 73 70
144 Branden Grace (Rsa) 72 72, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 72 72, Yo-Seop Seo (Kor) 74 70
145 Kevin Streelman 75 70
