Rory McIlroy surged back into contention at The Barclays with a superb six-under-par 65 at Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey to lie five off the lead held by Adam Scott and Cameron Tringale.
After a 74 in the first round the world number one made amends with a stunning round in the opening tournament of the PGA Tour’s season-ending, four-event FedExCup play-offs.
“I worked on a couple of things and just got comfortable with my swing again,” McIlroy said afterwards.
“After not really touching a club before this week I felt a little bit rusty out there yesterday. It didn’t take long, maybe an hour on the range, to get back on track and I’m glad I did it because I played really well today.”
McIlroy birdied the first and then hit two beautiful approaches on seven and nine to pick up further shots and turn in 32. He carded another three on the back nine – at 12, 13 and 17 – before just missing on the high side on 18.
Nevertheless, a 65 dramatically reversed his fortunes on a bunched leaderboard that also includes Graeme McDowell on four under after a 68.
Scott
Scott also carded a 65 to join American Tringale (68) on eight under, one ahead of Jim Furyk, who shot a two-under-par 69, and fellow Americans Kevin Chappell (67) and Brendon Todd (69).
Scott used a run of four successive birdies to vault into a share of the halfway lead.
The Australian world number two caught fire from the par-four fifth hole to post a 31 on the front nine and added two more birdies, including a nice finishing touch at 18 to stand at eight-under-par 134 alongside Tringale.
Tringale last week disqualified himself from the PGA Championship for signing an incorrect scorecard.
Sweden’s Henrik Stenson shot a sizzling 64 midway through the day.
Stenson, who failed to make a single birdie in his opening round 72, had eight of them yesterday against a lone bogey to reach the halfway mark at 136 along with Ernie Els (68), overnight leader Bo Van Pelt (71), Russell Knox (69), Jason Day 72 (64) and Kevin Na (66).
“To be honest, it was pretty much only on the greens,” said Stenson about his dramatic turnaround. “I played nicely yesterday but I couldn’t make one single putt out there,” added the Swede, who won the FedExCup playoffs last year but begins these play-offs in 70th place in the standings.
Birdies
Furyk used a string of three birdies in a row from the 15th to hit the top of the leaderboard, and overcame two bogeys with four birdies overall on the day.
Chappell posted four birdies in a bogey-free round, while Todd overcame a double-bogey six at the seventh, his 16th hole of the day, with a birdie at the last.
The cut for the elite field was set at one-over-par 143, with 79 players carrying on to the third round.
The top 100 players on the FedExCup points list after the tournament will qualify for next week’s Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston.
Among those missing the cut on an overcast day at Ridgewood Country Club were European Ryder Cup veteran Ian Poulter (72) and 2012 FedExCup winner Brandt Snedeker (74), who both finished just outside the cut at 144.
U.S. Open winner Martin Kaymer of Germany soared to a second-round 77 for 148.
