Majestic McIlroy coming up with the answers

It cannot always be a procession but whatever the golfing gods throw in Rory McIlroy’s way right now he is finding the right path to negotiate those challenges.

On Thursday at Valhalla as he got his challenge for a third victory in a row underway in the US PGA Championship, the Open champion’s serene progress of the last few weeks was momentarily halted by a mid-round wobble as McIlroy went double-bogey-bogey. When once the shoulders might have dropped and the confidence drained, the Irishman reeled off four birdies in a row and then added a fifth for good measure at the last to sign for an opening 66, one off the lead shared by Lee Westwood, Kevin Chappell and Ryan Palmer

Yesterday it was the conditions that needed careful management as heavy rain fell on the second round’s early starters. McIlroy will have welcomed the effects that had on the course, making the already long 7458-yard Jack Nicklaus-designed track play even longer as tee shots tend not to run on once they’ve landed and therefore favouring the longer, more accurate hitters of which the three-time major winner is one.