Golf:Rory McIlroy slipped to three shots off the lead at the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village as a stunning hole-in-one saw Steve Stricker take control. The Ulsterman, who shared the first-round lead with American Chris Riley, finished his second with the clubhouse lead after carding a level-par round to be six-under-par for the tournament.
However, Stricker came on strong and thanks to his later tee time stormed past the European Ryder Cup star to lead by three.
The hole-in-one was crucial for Stricker as a six-iron on the 188-yard eighth, having played the back nine first, found its way directly into the hole before a birdie on his last gave him a five-under round of 67.
The amazing finish saw him leap from a group of five sharing the lead to an outright advantage by three shots at the half-way point.
"It's a shock when you see that go in, obviously," Stricker, nine under overall on 135, said. "But in a good way! It was a great way to finish the round."
McIlroy, at 72 today, is level now with Ricky Barnes (70), Jonathan Byrd (67) and Australian Rod Pampling (66).
The 22-year-old picked up three bogies in his front nine but managed to pull shots back with birdies coming on the second, fifth and seventh.
A good back nine, in which he carded a further three birdies, was damaged by a double-bogey on the par-four 14th and another bogey on the 18th.
"I felt as if I played good enough to shoot something in the 60s, but I just made too many mistakes out there," said the Northern Irishman.
Britain's new world number one Luke Donald is bubbling under the surface, five-under on 139 after a strong finish comprising successive birdies on his last two for a 69.
Collated second-round scores & totals (USA unless stated, par 72):
135Steve Stricker 68 67
138Ricky Barnes 68 70, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 72 66, Rory McIlroy 66 72, Jonathan Byrd 71 67
139Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 71 68, Kevin Stadler 71 68, Brandt Jobe 71 68, Luke Donald (Eng) 70 69, Ryan Moore 69 70, Josh Teater 67 72
140Matt Kuchar 69 71, Matt Bettencourt 68 72
141Chris Riley 66 75, John Senden (Aus) 71 70, Gary Woodland 72 69, Stewart Cink 68 73, Hunter Mahan 69 72, Brendan Steele 70 71, Dustin Johnson 68 73, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 71 70, Bryce Molder 68 73, Brett Wetterich 70 71, Rickie Fowler 68 73, Drew Weaver 71 70, Jason Bohn 70 71, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 72 69
142Davis Love III 69 73, Scott Piercy 75 67, Kevin Chappell 69 73, Webb Simpson 72 70, Charles Howell III 72 70, Kevin Streelman 74 68, Phil Mickelson 72 70, Bill Haas 71 71, Shaun Micheel 69 73, Bo Van Pelt 72 70, Camilo Villegas (Col) 73 69, Troy Matteson 73 69
143Charley Hoffman 69 74, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 72 71, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 70 73, Chris Couch 70 73, Alex Cejka (Ger) 71 72, Mark Wilson 70 73, D.A. Points 71 72, K J Choi (Kor) 70 73, Daniel Summerhays 72 71
144Brendon De Jonge 71 73, Brian Davis (Eng) 73 71, Scott Stallings 68 76, Robert Garrigus 69 75, Chris DiMarco 67 77, Bubba Watson 75 69, Blake Adams 71 73, Chez Reavie 75 69, J.B. Holmes 72 72, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 73 71, Marc Leishman (Aus) 73 71, Ernie Els (Rsa) 71 73, Rocco Mediate 68 76
145Pat Perez 71 74, Kyle Stanley 72 73, Zack Miller 72 73, Ben Curtis 70 75, David Duval 72 73, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 73 72, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 74 71, Charlie Wi (Kor) 73 72, Justin Leonard 73 72, Vijay Singh (Fij) 73 72, J J Henry 70 75, Johnson Wagner 71 74
The following players failed to make the cut
146Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 75 71, Colt Knost 70 76, Alex Prugh 74 72, Steve Marino 75 71, Justin Rose (Eng) 71 75, Sean O'Hair 76 70, Robert Allenby (Aus) 71 75, Tim Petrovic 70 76, Martin Laird (Sco) 75 71, Cameron Tringale 77 69, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 79 67
147Chris Kirk 70 77, Scott McCarron 73 74, Jeff Overton 75 72, Tim Herron 74 73, Jimmy Walker 73 74, Tom Gillis 74 73, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 79 68
148Keegan Bradley 76 72, Spencer Levin 77 71, Seung-yul Noh (Kor) 76 72, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 78 70, Vaughn Taylor 72 76, Billy Mayfair 78 70, Ryan Palmer 74 74, Tommy Gainey 78 70
149Jerry Kelly 78 71, Bobby Gates 76 73, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 76 73
150Kenny Perry 80 70, Roland Thatcher 76 74, Todd Hamilton 74 76, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 75 75
151Lucas Glover 72 79, Hunter Haas 77 74, Fred Couples 79 72
152Eugene Wong (Can) 80 72, Brett Quigley 80 72, Jim Furyk 77 75
154Kris Blanks 74 80
157Matthew Jones (Aus) 82 75
158Mike Weir (Can) 76 82
162Jin Jeong (Kor) 76 86
WD: Bill Lunde 74, D.J. Trahan 77
DQ: Joost Luiten (Ned) 76
