Haotong Li of China plays his shot from the 14th tee during the second round of the 2020 PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park on August 07, 2020 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Christian Petersen/PGA of America via Getty Images)

Irish golf could claim a sliver of the halfway lead in the PGA Championship as Chinese star Haotong Li fired a second-round 65 to set the pace at TPC Harding Park.

The 25-year old, who became the first Chinese player to make the Presidents Cup team last year, led by two shots from Brooks Koepka, England’s Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose, Jason Day, Daniel Berger and Mike Lorenzo Vera.

Rory McIlroy was seven back after a 69 that featured six birdies and a triple bogey while Shane Lowry was eight behind after a 72 that saw him drop five shots in a torrid, six-hole stretch mid-round that led to him snapping a club over his knee in sheer frustration.

“I've been pretty much hit in all the right spots,” said Li, sporting a WeChat logo on his cap that is sure to infuriate President Donald Trump, who yesterday issued executive orders that would ban the social media apps WeChat and TikTok from operating in the US if they are not sold by their Chinese-owned parent companies with 45 days.

“Even if I miss the green, I still got a chance to up-and-down. I think the key on this course, you just need to hit as many fairways as you can, and especially putting and short game is quite important.”

The Chinese star was first spotted by Irish PGA professional Paul McLoughlin when he was Director of Golf at the Lake Malaren resort outside Shanghai.

"I helped him when he was starting out and the backing he got from Lake Malaren was phenomenal," the Howth native said of a player who is now managed by the same firm that looks after Tiger Woods.

"I even travelled to Fota Island with him when he got an invitation to play in the Irish Open at the age of 17 [in 2014] and we became friends."

While his recent form has been poor, Li's rise has been meteoric and he hasn’t forgotten the help he got from McLoughlin at Lake Malaren as he fielded questions in the San Francisco sunshine last night before then practising on the range late into the afternoon.

“Yeah, they helped me a lot, especially when I first turned pro, the first couple years,” said the man who started out caddying for his father, a golf fanatic who owned a car dealership in Hunan.

"If one day you take me down, I'll quit and you can play," Li's father said.

"One-and-a-half years later, I beat him and he quit," Li revealed

He held off McIlroy to win the Dubai Desert Classic two years ago to move to a career-high 32nd in the world, then shot a final round 63 to finish third behind Jordan Spieth in The Open in 2017.

Tommy Fleetwood of England hits his tee shot on the eighth hole during the second round of the 102nd PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park on August 7, 2020 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Darren Carroll/PGA of America)

He's since fallen to 114th in the world but after opening with a three-under 67 to lie 12th overnight, the gangling Shanghai resident was superb in benign, early conditions, scoring brilliantly despite hitting just four fairways.

He birdied the first two holes, then birdied the fifth and ninth to turn in 31, picked off another birdie at the par-five 10th to move to eight-under and then parred his way home.

He’s not thinking of becoming China’s first male major winner just yet, but Fleetwood can dare to dream after two runner-up finishes in the past two seasons — to Brooks Koepka in the 2018 US Open and Shane Lowry in The Open last year.

“You can class it as lucky or unlucky, but I've played with quite a few of the winners of the last few majors, and it's always good to see what they do,” said Fleetwood, who made seven birdies and a bogey in an impressive, six-under 64. missing just two fairways.

“You're obviously concentrating on your own game but you see how the events pan out and you see how the guys go and win those events.

“That in your mind can only do you good, I guess, because you've watched it and seen it. Any time you're in contention it's just experience. You learn things about yourself and how those events unfold.

“Like I say, experience you can't buy it, and I've been lucky enough to have some of that, and hopefully it stands me in good stead moving forward.”

Big-hitting American Cameron Champ also shot 64 to share third on five-under-par with joint overnight leader Brendon Todd, who shot 70, and England’s Paul Casey, who signed for a 67.

But it was more of a struggle for Mad Scientist, Bryson DeChambeau, who trails Li by six shots on two-under after hitting just four fairways in a 70.

“I've got to do something special this weekend,” DeChambeau said. “I think I can. I think I've got the firepower to do that. I've just got to hit some fairways. If I get that done, I feel like I'll be in better shape.”

Graeme McDowell (41) needed a good round to make the cut after opening with a two-over 72. But he struggled from the tee en route to a four-over 74 that left him five shots outside the cut mark on six-over par.