Rory rules the roost with two rounds to go

Rory McIlroy will take a one-shot lead into Saturday’s third round at the PGA Championship promising to keep his foot on the accelerator as he seeks to close out back-to-back major victories.

World number one McIlroy, also chasing a third win in a row, posted an early four-under-par second-round 67 on Friday to move to nine under and then sat back and saw only Jason Day of Australia and American Jim Furyk narrow the two-shot advantage he enjoyed when he took the clubhouse lead some five hours earlier.

Day, who has struggled most of this season with a left thumb injury and withdrew from last week's WGC-Bridgestone during the third round due to dizziness, birdied the par-five 18th to card a six-under 65 and move to eight under par and Furyk followed suit at the last for a 68.

American Rickie Fowler, who lost his duel with McIlroy on the last day of last month's Open Championship at Hoylake, lies two strokes behind halfway leader McIlroy after a five-under 66, sharing fourth place with compatriot Ryan Palmer and Irish Open champion Mikko Ilonen who shot a 68 in the final group of the day.

Phil Mickelson eagled the last, the par-five 18th, to move up to six under following a 67, yet it is McIlroy once again, who is in control after 36 holes, just as he was when he won his first major at the 2011 US Open, and his third at The Open three weeks ago.

He has since won the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in his only start since Hoylake and is in the kind of imperious form to make it three wins in consecutive starts to emulate Tiger Woods' feat at the same events in 2000 and 2006.

It is memories of a halfway and then 54-hole lead lost that will provide the incentive for McIlroy on Saturday, however, the 25-year-old determined not to fall into “protective mode” as he did when leading the 2011 Masters only to implode on Sunday afternoon.

“I've had to learn to be a good frontrunner. I maybe wasn't quite comfortable in that position at the start of my career... especially 2011, the Masters, I was four ahead and I wasn't quite comfortable in that position.

“It's taken me a couple of years to grow into that where I am comfortable, and my mindset has stayed the same since that day at Augusta. If I'm two ahead going into the weekend here, I'm going to try to get three ahead; and if I'm three ahead, I'm going to try to get four ahead; and if I'm four ahead, I'm going to try to get five ahead. I'm just going to try to keep the pedal down and get as many ahead as possible. That is my mindset whenever I'm leading the golf tournament.

“I went into protection mode once in my career, and it was the 2011 Masters. That didn't work out very well. So I said to myself, I'll never do that again.

“So I don't think you can protect a lead. You just have to go out and play, play your game, and not think about the score, not think about where you are in the tournament. Just play a solid round of golf.”

There were just two bogeys in his second round, four birdies and an eagle three at the par-five 18th, McIlroy's ninth hole of the day, to take him to 41 under par for his last 10 competitive rounds stretching back to day one of The Open.

“Another very solid day's work,” McIlroy said, and Martin Kaymer has seen enough of the Irishman's play over the first two rounds to believe he is the player to beat.

“When he hits the driver that straight and that long, and the short game is incredible, it's very difficult to beat him,” US Open champion Kaymer said of his playing partner of the last two days. “His iron shots, they are very solid. He doesn't miss many golf shots.

“So you just have to respect it a lot, how good he plays. There's nothing wrong with his game; putting, chipping, bunker, whatever it is, and he hits it 20, 25 yards longer than anyone else. He's definitely the best player in the world.

“There's not much going wrong with his game. Even when he misses the green, he still saves par, and all of a sudden a couple of eagles. It's impressive the way he plays golf now.”

Yet as Kaymer struggled to a 74, McIlroy was playing majestically. His tee shot at the 18th was a 311-yard drive that found the fairway, his 213-yard iron shot approach finding the green and leaving a 31ft eagle putt that was dispatched with aplomb.

It all looked very easy indeed.

Less so for Tiger Woods, the 14-time major winner exiting Valhalla, where 14 years ago he had won this championship for his third major of that season. Woods carded his second consecutive 74 to finish on six over par, well adrift of the cut-line, while playing partner Padraig Harrington four shots better after an even-par 71 fell one shot the wrong side of it at two over.

“Today was easy, the pins we’re a lot easier today. I putted very bad, and scored very bad for the two days,” Harrington said. “I haven’t been that bad at those, so I hope they pick up and I score a little better next week.”

Shane Lowry is the next best Irishman at Valhalla, finishing his first 36 holes on level par after suffering the worst of the conditions in the first group of the day, a second-round 74 much better than it looks.

Graeme McDowell, who like Harrington started from two over, will also play the weekend after surviving the cut on the line at one over par thanks to a one-under 70 but Darren Clarke was on his way home, his impressive 69 failing to compensate for a first-round, eight-over 79.