McIlroy nine back after driver struggles in Charlotte

Rory McIlroy walks up the eighth fairway during the second round of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club on Friday, May 16, 2025 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/PGA of America)

Rory McIlroy may need a weekend comeback reminiscent of his maiden PGA Tour win to win his sixth major in the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.

The Masters champion and world number two roared back into the mix in the second round when he played his opening 10 holes in four-under-par to get into the red and within three shots of rival Scottie Scheffler.

But he produced a ragged finish on another sweltering day in North Carolina, where he three-putted the 11th and bogeyed the 12th, then followed birdies at the gettable 14th and 15th with another three-putt bogey at the 17th.

He flirted with disaster at the 18th but got a ricochet off hospitality tents onto the bank of the stream at the 18th and escaped with a bogey five to scrape in for the weekend on the mark.

His two-under 69 was a big improvement on his opening 74, but he declined to speak to the media afterwards about making the cut on the one-over-par limit.

Tied for 62nd, he's nine strokes behind 40-year-old Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas, who shot 70 to lead by two shots on eight-under from France's Matthieu Pavon (65), England's Matthew Fitzpatrick (68) and Korea's Si Woo Kim, who aced the 252-yard sixth en route to a joint best of the week 64.

It was a score matched by a resurgent Max Homa, who, like Fitzpatrick, is battling to emerge from a deep slump.

Homa is tied for fifth with Scheffler, who did not play his best but still ground out a 68 to trail Vegas by just three strokes on five-under.

McIlroy, who was forced to change driver head before the first round as his TaylorMade Qi10 driver reportedly failed a COR test on Tuesday, according to ESPN.

The driver was randomly tested by the USGA on behalf of the PGA of America.

Thin-faced drivers can become non-conforming due to normal wear and tear but McIlroy’s decision not to speak to the media means we will. have to wait until after today’s third round to discover what exactly transpired.

It was notable that while he hit six fairways yesterday compared to just four on Thursday, McIlroy’s haul of 10 fairways from 28 left him joint last for driving accuracy (35.71 pc) of those who made the cut alongside Beau Hossler.

Having come from nine shots behind at halfway to win the first of four Wells Fargo titles in 2010,  he will need his best stuff alongside Xander Schauffele from 1:25 pm Irish time today to get back into the mix.

He will likely focus on closing the gap on Scheffler rather than Vegas, whose best major finish is a tie for 22nd in the 2016 PGA at Baltusrol.

Scheffler was pleased to get the best out of his round without his best stuff and give himself a chance to add a third major title to his two Masters victories.

"I like the position I'm in going into the weekend," Scheffler said. "Obviously, I wish I was a little bit further up the leaderboard. I think I got a lot out of my game the last couple of days. 

"I felt like, as the round went on, my swing continued to get better, and I was able to hit some key shots down the stretch to give myself some opportunities."

He added: "I think most of me is just glad to be close to the lead. If you're going to play a 72-hole golf tournament, there's going to be days and stretches of golf where you're not swinging it your best.

"Over the course of a tournament this long and on a major championship setup, there's going to be, like I said, some bumps in the road. It's all about how you respond to those.

"I did a good job of responding to those mistakes today and keeping myself in the tournament."

Tom McKibbin leads the Irish challenge on one-under par after another professional, focused round.

He made his only bogey of the day after getting a mud ball at the ninth, his closing hole, and shares 36th place on one-under, just two strokes outside the top-20 finish he believes would be a good week.

"I'm pretty happy," said McKibbin, who has put a six-year-old set of irons back in the bag for this week.

"I didn't play as well as yesterday, but I grinded out well and kept the mistakes off the card, which was nice."

Pádraig Harrington fought hard to make the weekend, knocking in birdies at the seventh and eighth to go to the last, hoping a par would be good enough to make the cut and build confidence at the weekend.

He got up and down from greenside rough for his four, but like Shane Lowry, who also shot a level par 71, he missed the cut by one stroke.

Seamus Power was two shots further back after a 74, where much of the damage was done by a bogey at the sixth and a double bogey seven at the par-five seventh, which left him too much to do coming down the stretch.