Friday 18 March 2016 19:42, UK
Rory McIlroy feels he is starting to find more confidence in his game after a much-improved second round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
McIlroy looked in danger of missing the cut after struggling to an opening-round 75 at Bay Hill, only to bounce back with a birdie-filled 67 on Friday to move back in to contention.
The Northern Irishman was left surprised by his slow start to the tournament on Thursday, where he double-bogeyed the first and found the water three times, but had plenty more to smile about after a far more consistent display both tee to green and with the putter.
McIlroy still sits 11 shots adrift of runaway leader Jason Day, although six birdies and just one blemish has given the 26-year-old plenty of encouragement heading in to the weekend.
"I said after yesterday's round I was just trying to stay patient and came out and started off really solid and kept it up," McIlroy said. "I drove the ball nicely and hit a lot of good quality shots into the greens.
"It's very easy to get ahead of myself, especially with how I've played earlier this year.
"You can get a little bit caught up in it sometimes but you just have to make sure you're doing the right things, you're working hard, you're working towards that goal and the last few days has been fantastic."
Beginning on the back nine, McIlroy made the perfect start by holing a 15-footer at the 10th before draining another birdie from slightly further out at the par-5 12th.
Having tapped-in from close range over the next two, the Northern Irishman pitched to 10 feet at the 15th to move back level par for the week.
McIlroy's red-hot putting suffered a slight blip with a two-putt par from six feet at 16, but the world No 3 bounced back to drain a 14-foot par-save at the 18 and reach the turn in 33.
After drilling in from over 30 feet at the first to get back under par for the week, McIlroy continued to surge up the leaderboard when pitched close to the third flag and leave a kick-in birdie.
McIlroy recovered from a wayward approach to get up-and-down from the sand and save par at the next, before posting another long-range birdie from 25 feet at the fifth.
His only blemish of the day came when he misjudged his chip out of the rough at the short seventh and failed to save par from 15 feet, with McIlroy closing his round with two two-putt pars.
"I had one kick-in on three but for the most part played the par-fives great again and just putted great," McIlroy added.
"The two bombs that I holed today on 17 and nine definitely helped, but I felt like these sorts of scores were coming, so I just had to be patient with myself."
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