‘I was stuck in neutral’ – Rory McIlroy targets low round on Saturday after ‘one of those days’ at Valhalla

Rory McIlroy admitted he was stuck in neutral in round two and needs to shoot a round in the mid-sixties today to keep alive his hopes of winning the PGA Championship and his fifth Major at Valhalla.

The world number two carded a pedestrian, level par 71 to trail leader Xander Schauffele by seven shots at halfway after taking 33 putts to find himself tied for 22nd on five-under.

He rammed in a 40-footer for birdie at the first but struggling to hit the ball close, he bogeyed the sixth and followed a tap-in birdie a the par-five seventh with some crucial mistakes.

He did well to avoid a bogey at the ninth, where he rattled in a 25-footer for par to remain six-under for the championship.

But after missing an eight-footer for birdie at the 10th, he ran up a double bogey six at the tough 12th, where he took four to get down from greenside sand.

“I obviously wanted to get a lot more out of my round than I did but I did the double bogey on 12 sort of halted any momentum that I had,” said McIlroy, who missed back-to-back 11-footers for birdie at the 16th and 17th before eventually two-putting the 18th from 40 feet for birdie.

“I actually felt like I played okay on the way in after the double bogey, but I just missed a few makeable putts.

“It was just one of those days where I felt like I was stuck in neutral a little bit. Now I need to go out and shoot a low one tomorrow to try to get myself back in the tournament.”

McIlroy arrived in Louisville on the back of successive wins, memorably claiming the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with Shane Lowry before coming from four shots behind Schauffele at halfway to win the Wells Fargo Championship by five shots last Sunday.

“Yeah, I think (that I have the form),” he said. “I didn't really get anything clicking today. “My short game and my putting were clicking yesterday and that's what got me round in five under (66).

“I sort of need to try to get all of my game in working order tomorrow to try to shoot a good score like that. But yeah, I need something in the low to mid-60s to give myself a reasonable chance going into the last day.

Schauffele added a 68 to his opening 62 to lead by a shot from Collin Morikawa, who shot 65, on 12-under with Sahith Theegala alone in third on 10-under after a 67 when play was suspended for the day.

“Hey, guys, it's just been two rounds,” Schauffele joked. “It's just 36 holes. It's a really good start to a tournament. I'm playing some really nice golf. That's kind of it.”

World number one Scottie Scheffler was in a three-way tie for fourth on nine-under, just three behind, after carding a remarkable 66 just hours after his early morning arrest and release.

He’s tied with Mark Hubbard (68) and Bryson DeChambeau (65) with Austin Eckroat (67), Viktor Hovland (66) and Tony Finau (69) a shot further back.

Despite struggling with his long game at times, Shane Lowry putted well to card a second successive 69 that left him tied 29th on four-under while Pádraig Harrington was destined to miss the cut on 10-over after a 75.

The Dubliner (52) struggled with neck spasms in the final round of the Regions Tradition on Sunday and never felt comfortable at Valhalla, where the cut for the top 70 and ties was projected to fall at one-under-par

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