Reigning US Open champion Rory McIlroy ended a run of three-straight missed cuts by shooting a second round five-under 65 to seize a one-stroke lead at the St Jude Classic in Memphis.
McIlroy is competing in Memphis in order to tune up his game before heading to San Francisco next week for his US Open title defence at The Olympic Club.
He birdied three of his last four holes to equal his lowest PGA Tour round of the year. He also had an eagle, five birdies and two bogeys in the $US5.6 million tournament on Friday.
A pack of three Americans trail McIlroy on six under with Jeff Maggert, JB Holmes and Kevin Stadler all breathing down the Northern Irishman’s neck.
Nick O’Hern is the best-placed Australian in a tie for 12th on three under, four behind McIlroy.
Maggert shot a two-under 68 while Holmes made a massive jump up the leaderboard with a six under round while Stadler was five under for the round.
He rolled in a birdie on 18 to vault ahead of three players at the TPC at Southwind.
“It’s nice to see my name on that part of the leaderboard,” McIlroy said. “It’s not nice when you’re struggling to make the cut on a Friday afternoon.”
McIlroy is playing St Jude for just the second time after deciding a couple of weeks ago that he would head to Memphis in order to get in some extra competition ahead of the US Open.
Having missed the cut last week at the Memorial, McIlroy hadn’t broken par in his previous three starts, two on the PGA Tour and one on the European Tour.
He missed the cut in all three starts.
McIlroy is hoping to become the first player to win a PGA Tour event then follow up the next week by taking the US Open.
But he is trying not to think too hard about that heading into his third round Saturday. His focus right now is on honing his game.