Rory McIlroy made a move into the top 10 at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego on Friday, carding a seven-under 65 to move to eight under.
That left him seven off the lead of runaway leader Justin Rose, the English golfer carding a six-under 66 to move to 15 under, three shots clear of Japan's Hideki Matsuyama, who finished on 12 under after also shooting a 66 on the South Course.
McIlroy carded a one-under 71 on the South Course in round one but found the more open North Course to his liking as he opened with an eagle three on the par-five 10th hole.
Five straight pars followed before a brilliant end to his first nine as he holed his second shot at the par-four 16th for a second eagle of the round and birdied the 17th to turn in five-under 31 and move to six under overall.
Three birdies and a single bogey on the eighth hole completed a fine day’s work in California.
While Tiger Woods posted his second consecutive 70 to slip 11 strokes off the pace, world number one Rose matched the best 36-hole score for a PGA Tour event at the venue.
Spanish overnight leader Jon Rahm battled to a 72 on the South Course to slip five strokes behind Rose, equal third with Americans Billy Horschel (68) and Ryan Palmer (67).
Rose found fairway bunkers with poor drives at the first two holes but salvaged par both times before hitting his stride with three straight birdies from the fourth.
“Job was done today,” he told Golf Channel. “It was nice to play a positive round and feel good so I can build on that hopefully going into the weekend.
“If you play well the course is there to be had but what I like about it is you need to be on. If you don’t drive it well, or hit some poor iron shots, you can’t fake it around here.”
McIlroy, in his first appearance in the event, was delighted to get back into contention.
“Only shooting one-under yesterday on the South Course, I knew I needed to go out and shoot something at least in the mid 60s to just make the cut, let alone get back in the golf tournament,” he said.
“So it was nice to eagle the first hole we played and it’s always a bonus when you can hole a wedge shot as well. All in all a good round of golf and at least have a shot going into the weekend.”
Woods had only one blemish on his card, a double-bogey at his ninth, where his ball plugged in a bunker but he did not convert enough birdie chances to shoot better than 70 on the north course.
“It’s going to have to be a special weekend to have a chance,” said Woods, who needs two more PGA Tour victories to match Sam Snead’s record of 82.
“I didn’t make enough birdies. Iron shots weren’t as close as I’d like to have them [although] I hit them in there close enough I should have made some of those putts.”
Collated second round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour Farmers Insurance Open, Torrey Pines GC, San Diego, California, United States of America (USA unless stated, Irish in bold, par 72):
129 Justin Rose (Eng) 63 66
132 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 66 66
134 Jon Rahm (Spa) 62 72, Billy Horschel 66 68, Ryan Palmer 67 67
135 Sang-moon Bae (Kor) 68 67, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 67 68, Joel Dahmen 68 67
136 Bud Cauley 66 70, Sepp Straka (Aut) 69 67, Doug Ghim 63 73, Wyndham Clark 69 67, Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 71 65, Adam Scott (Aus) 70 66, Sam Burns 70 66, John Huh 68 68, Charles Howell III 66 70
137 Hank Lebioda 70 67, Beau Hossler 67 70, John Chin 66 71, Adam Svensson (Can) 70 67, Russell Knox (Sco) 67 70, Jordan Spieth 65 72, Michael Thompson 68 69, Talor Gooch 69 68, Chris Stroud 66 71, Brandon Hagy 66 71, Jonas Blixt (Swe) 68 69, Robert Streb 69 68
138 Jason Day (Aus) 67 71, Sam Ryder 69 69, Patrick Reed 69 69, Julian Etulain (Arg) 71 67, Tony Finau 69 69, Scott Brown 70 68, Braden Thornberry 71 67
139 Keegan Bradley 68 71, Bill Haas 67 72, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 66 73, Cheng-Tsung Pan (Tai) 64 75, Danny Willett (Eng) 71 68, Luke List 70 69, Benjamin Silverman (Can) 68 71, Xander Schauffele 69 70, Martin Laird (Sco) 73 66, Nick Taylor (Can) 71 68, Rickie Fowler 73 66
140 Jason Kokrak 71 69, Scott Stallings 69 71, Cameron Smith (Aus) 71 69, Grayson Murray 68 72, Sean O’Hair 71 69, Morgan Hoffmann 70 70, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 68 72, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 70 70, JT Poston 72 68, Nick Watney 72 68, Rory Sabbatini (Svk) 72 68, Tiger Woods 70 70, Chris Thompson 74 66, Sungjae Im (Kor) 72 68, Nicholas Lindheim 71 69
141 Adam Schenk 72 69, Shawn Stefani 67 74, Matt Jones (Aus) 67 74, Sung Kang (Kor) 71 70, John Senden (Aus) 68 73, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 67 74, Jim Knous 70 71, Marc Leishman (Aus) 68 73, Ryan Blaum 71 70, Kevin Tway 70 71, Brandt Snedeker 68 73, Trey Mullinax 70 71, Stephan Jaeger (Ger) 70 71, Gary Woodland 71 70, Cameron Davis (Aus) 72 69
The following players missed the cut
142 Abraham Ancer (Mex) 70 72, Harold Varner III 70 72, Josh Teater 73 69, Peter Uihlein 73 69, Adam Long 69 73, James Hahn 75 67, Nick Hardy 71 71, Stewart Cink 72 70, Alex Prugh 75 67
143 Hunter Mahan 70 73, Roger Sloan (Can) 70 73, Ollie Schniederjans 71 72, Kyoung-hoon Lee (Kor) 68 75, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 72 71, Dominic Bozzelli 67 76, Jim Herman 70 73, Tom Hoge 72 71, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 70 73, Aaron Wise 74 69, Sam Saunders 72 71, Jose de Jesus Rodriguez (Mex) 73 70, Patrick Cantlay 74 69, Chase Wright 73 70, Bronson Burgoon 74 69, Fabian Gomez (Arg) 67 76, Denny McCarthy 74 69, Roberto Castro 71 72, Michael Kim 74 69, Cameron Tringale 71 72
144 Wes Roach 68 76, Scott Langley 71 73 , Anders Albertson 73 71, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 71 73, Harris English 69 75, Daniel Berger 75 69, Alex Noren (Swe) 76 68, Kevin Streelman 72 72
145 Hudson Swafford 72 73, Danny Lee (Nzl) 73 72, Pat Perez 72 73, Chris Kirk 72 73, Viktor Hovland (a) (Nor) 73 72, Brice Garnett 72 73, Alex Cejka (Ger) 73 72
146 Richy Werenski 66 80, Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn) 72 74, David Pastore 73 73, Charley Hoffman 72 74, Brian Harman 71 75, Patrick Rodgers 72 74, Seth Reeves 67 79, D.A. Points 72 74, Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 77 69, Bruce Doucett 71 75, Kelly Kraft 74 72, J.J. Spaun 73 73, Keith Mitchell 74 72, Cameron Champ 75 71
147 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 73 74, Kenny Pigman 72 75, Branden Grace (Rsa) 70 77, Tyler Duncan 70 77, Brendan Steele 71 76, Ben Crane 71 76, Ryan Moore 71 76
148 J.B. Holmes 69 79, Kramer Hickok 71 77, Chesson Hadley 75 73, Joey Garber 76 72
149 Brian Davis (Eng) 74 75, Kyle Stanley 73 76, Whee Kim (Kor) 76 73, Cody Gribble 74 75, Kyle Jones 75 74
151 Brady Schnell 74 77, Rod Pampling (Aus) 75 76
153 Brandon Harkins 73 80, Jimmy Walker 76 77
154 Seamus Power (Irl) 76 78
