Rory McIlroy battled back into contention at the PGA Championship on day two at Aronimink.
McIlroy posted a second-round 67 at Aronimink to leave himself five shots adrift of the leaders heading into the weekend.
The Northern Irishman struggled on day one but he produced a magnificent bogey-free round on Friday.
Rory McIlroy struck the ball beautifully well on day two of the PGA Championship and he was clearly very much in control of his golf ball.
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Aronimink certainly hasn't been playing easy this week, and many of the best golfers in the world have clearly struggled.
McIlroy ended his opening round at Aronimink with four consecutive bogeys and ended up carding a 73.
However, the 37-year-old bounced back in style on day two at Aronimink and carded an extremely solid score of 67.
Scottie Scheffler suggested that some of the pin locations at Aronimink on Friday were 'absurd'.
The American did, however, insist that the setup was fair.
Scheffler said: " You just got to continue to try to hit good shots, and most of the pins today were, I mean, kind of absurd. They were just so far into the areas where we thought the pins were going to be, and then they just — like the one on 14 was probably the hardest pin that I've seen in a long time just because, I mean, there's literally just like a spine and they're like, oh, we'll just put the pin right on top of it. And you're like, all right, well, I'll see what I can do. And just you know, just challenging.
" This is the hardest set of pin locations that I've seen since I've been on TOUR, and that includes U.S. Opens, that includes Oakmont. I did ask, I asked Fooch, who caddies for Justin Rose. He's been around a long time — and I asked Teddy too — have you seen anything like this before? They said maybe Shinnecock is the only place they have seen that has pins that could compare to this. "
McIlroy spoke to reporters after his second round, and suggested quite the opposite.
He responded when asked directly whether he agreed with Scheffler's take on the course setup.
" Yeah, um, I was — the only thing I would say is, I think a bunched leaderboard like this, I think it's a sign of not a great setup, " McIlroy said.
Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images
" I think when it's as bunched as it is, because it hasn't really enabled anyone to separate themselves. It's like, you know, it's easy to make a ton of pars, hard to make birdies, and not that it's hard to make bogey, but it feels like bogey's the worst score you're going to shoot on any one hole.
" There's not a lot of hazards. There's not, you know — yeah, I think the setup is fine, like the golf course is good, the pins were tough, and the wind was what it was as well.
" But I just think, yeah, I've always felt like really good setups, it starts to spread the field a bit, and not great setups sort of bring everyone together. I feel like that's what's happened the last two days. "
McIlroy was ranked 10th in strokes gained off the tee and 35th in strokes gained approach on Friday at Aronimink.
He was ranked 41st in strokes gained around the greens and 18th in strokes gained putting.
The Northern Irishman was ranked ninth in strokes gained tee-to-green.
Overall, Rory McIlroy ranked tied for third in strokes gained total, gaining 5.589 shots on the field on Friday at Aronimink.
If he tidies up his approach play and chipping over the weekend, watch out!
