Rory McIlroy makes big move, one off the lead of Soren Kjeldsen and Viktor Hovland at BMW PGA Championship
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Published 10/09/2022 at 17:23 GMT
The BMW PGA Championship is bubbling up nicely going into Sunday's final round. Soren Kjeldsen was one of the early starters and the Dane got to 12-under, and was joined on that scored by Norway's Viktor Hovland who was showing a welcome return to form at Wentworth. Rory McIlroy began the event as the favourite and he is firmly in the mix, one shot behind the leaders.
Rory McIlroy acknowledges the crowd at the BMW PGA Championship, Wentworth Golf Club on September 10, 2022 in Virginia Water, England
Image credit: Getty Images
The sight of Rory McIlroy will be in the rear-view mirrors of leaders Soren Kjeldsen and Viktor Hovland after he stormed up the leaderboard in round two of the BMW PGA Championship.
The event has been reduced to 54 holes after Friday’s play was cancelled following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
McIlroy will head into Sunday’s final round one off the lead after a round of 65 took him to 11-under.
The world No. 3 said he did not do much right and did not do much wrong in his opening round.
He began the day five shots adrift and knew he had to accelerate quickly due to the curtailed format.
After missing decent birdie chances on the first two holes, McIlroy rolled in an eagle putt on four to get his round moving.
Second Round Leaderboard
- T1. Soren Kjeldsen, 12-under
- T1. Viktor Hovland, 12-under
- T3. Rory McIlroy, 11-under
- T3. Thomas Detry, 11-under
- T3. Rafael Cabrera-Bello, 11-under
- T6. Francesco Molinari, 10-under
- T6. Matthew Jordan, 10-under
- T6. Shane Lowry, 10-under
McIlroy played a sloppy second shot on nine but stroked in a momentum-saving par putt from 10 feet - and a brilliant approach on 11 set up a birdie to get to eight-under.
The 2014 winner found sand with his approach on the 12th, but a brilliant bunker shot set up a simple birdie putt to get to nine-under.
A rare error off the tee left McIlroy in trouble in a horrible lie in the rough on the 13th. He could only advance it down the fairway, but got up and down from 40 yards for a par.
McIlroy got a slice of fortune on 17 as his tee shot went left into the trees but the ball was spat out and he took advantage with a birdie, and he followed suit on 18 to get within one of the lead.
“I putted better and I holed some nice putts,” McIlroy told Sky Sports. “I took advantage of the par fives, of which there are four gettable ones out here.
“It is a four-under cut and 12-under is leading after two days. It is as gettable as I have ever seen Wentworth."
Hovland spoke on the eve of the event about how he had gone back to old videos to iron out issues with his swing.
Whatever work was undertaken appears to have done the trick as the Norwegian added a 68 to an opening 64 to get to 12-under alongside Kjeldsen.
The highlight of the round for Hovland was when going within inches of a hole in one on the 12th.
Shane Lowry has a brilliant record at Wentworth and he eased round in 68 to get to 10-under.
Min-woo Lee carded a 62 to catapult himself up the leaderboard to six-under. 62 is the course record at Wentworth, but the Australian will be denied a place in the record books as his round took place under preferred lies.
The Ryder Cup in his native Italy is likely to be a key target for Francesco Molinari, and in the first scoring event of the qualifying period a round of 65 took him well into the mix at 10-under.
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