McIlroy well poised to deliver in FedEx Cup

Rory McIlroy doesn’t have to win this week’s Tour Championship to pick up the massive FedEx Cup bonus of $10 million (€7.65m) bonus but he still has a lot of work to do if he is to leave East Lake, Atlanta, with golf’s richest prize tomorrow night.

The 23 year-old finished yesterday’s second round with a 68 for a three under par total of 137 to wind up four behind leader Jim Furyk. McIlroy is nicely poised going into one of the biggest week-ends in his young life. It was his 10th successive score under 70 on some of the toughest courses in the US and was a creditable effort given his ball striking was not all that he would have wanted.

Furyk momentarily appeared at the top of the FedEx rankings when he completed the first nine holes yesterday in 29 and had nine threes on his card through the 11th, seven of them in a row. But he faltered over the closing stretch to sign for a 64 and a seven under total of 133 that pushed him a couple clear of his closest pursuers, England’s Justin Rose and fellow American Bo Van Pelt.