Rory McIlroy lit up Las Vegas with a blistering 10-under 62 to set up a last day showdown with old rival Rickie Fowler at the CJ Cup in Las Vegas on Saturday.
After starting the day nine shots off the lead, McIlroy ended it in second place after a second straight bogey-free round, highlighted by five successive birdies from holes three to seven and a spectacular finish in making a 21-foot eagle putt on the last.
McIlroy’s lowest round since 2019 left him at 19-under par, two behind Fowler, who was in similarly strong form with five front nine birdies and four more coming home in a blemish-free 63.
Shane Lowry’s round of 69 ensured that he bettered his second round effort by one shot. The Offaly man now sits tied in 72nd place on four-under.
Elsewhere, Tyrrell Hatton was four shots off the lead in equal-sixth after a 67, with fellow Englishman Ian Poulter a further stroke away after also shooting five-under.
Paul Casey was eight off the pace at 13-under after a 70, a shot ahead of Tommy Fleetwood, who had four birdies on each nine in a bogey-free 64.
Sharing third place at 18-under were Australian Adam Scott (67), America’s Robert Streb (65) and Mexico’s Abraham Ancer (63).
McIlroy, the former world number one who has this year dropped to 14th, later said he could not remember his last bogey-free round before this tournament, where he suddenly has two.
“I think on a course like this you’re going to have stretches where you’re going to play good golf and hit good shots and maybe just not hole the putts,” he told reporters.
“I played an eight-hole stretch yesterday in even par - I made eight pars in a row. Then today, I played nine holes in six under and all of a sudden you feel a little better about yourself.”
Scores after the second round of the The CJ Cup (USA unless stated, Par 72)
195 Rickie Fowler 66 66 63
197 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 68 67 62
198 Abraham Ancer (Mex) 70 65 63, Adam Scott (Aus) 68 63 67, Robert Streb 61 72 65
199 Keith Mitchell 62 64 73, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 67 65 67
200 Cameron Smith (Aus) 66 67 67, Ian Poulter (Eng) 66 67 67
201 Aaron Wise 66 67 68, Erik van Rooyen (Rsa) 67 66 68, Harry Higgs 64 67 70, Sam Burns 67 68 66
202 Collin Morikawa 67 70 65, Russell Henley 68 69 65, Sung-Hoon Kang (Kor) 71 64 67
203 Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 71 65 67, Chris Kirk 68 67 68, Gary Woodland 68 69 66, Harold Varner III 67 70 66, Hudson Swafford 65 69 69, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 66 69 68, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 67 69 67, Jordan Spieth 66 65 72, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 71 62 70, Maverick McNealy 69 65 69, Paul Casey (Eng) 68 65 70, Seong-Hyeon Kim (Kor) 68 63 72, Viktor Hovland (Nor) 65 68 70
204 Lucas Glover 69 70 65, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 65 70 69, Stewart Cink 69 68 67, Sung Jae Im (Kor) 68 69 67, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 68 72 64, Webb Simpson 69 69 66
205 Brooks Koepka 67 70 68, Keegan Bradley 70 66 69, Kyoung-Hoon Lee (Kor) 67 72 66, Matt Jones (Aus) 70 69 66, Min-Kyu Kim (Kor) 69 66 70, Talor Gooch 67 68 70
206 Justin Thomas 69 67 70, Kevin Kisner 70 68 68, Kevin Na 68 66 72, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 70 71 65
207 Dustin Johnson 74 66 67, Max Homa 67 70 70, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 69 67 71, Tom Hoge 71 68 68, Xander Schauffele 69 69 69
208 Alexander Noren (Swe) 72 69 67, Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 70 70 68, Jason Kokrak 77 66 65, Kevin Streelman 75 70 63, Scottie Scheffler 66 71 71
209 Brian Harman 67 69 73, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 72 68 69, Harris English 73 68 68, Joo-Hyung Kim (Kor) 68 73 68, Justin Rose (Eng) 75 65 69, Marc Leishman (Aus) 70 69 70, Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den) 69 71 69, Tony Finau 68 71 70
210 Cameron Tringale 71 70 69, Charley Hoffman 72 70 68, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 66 70 74, Patrick Reed 71 66 73, Sang-Hun Shin (Kor) 71 70 69
211 Cameron Davis (Aus) 68 69 74, Jae-Kyeong Lee (Kor) 69 71 71, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 71 69 71
212 Patton Kizzire 71 71 70, Shane Lowry (Irl) 73 70 69
214 Han-Byeol Kim (Kor) 74 69 71, Yo-Seop Seo (Kor) 74 70 70
215 Branden Grace (Rsa) 72 72 71, Jason Day (Aus) 73 70 72
220 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 72 72 76
