McIlroy right back in contention

Ireland's Rory McIlroy has climbed up the leaderboard at the Madrid Open in Spain today.

The teenage rookie carded a second-round 68 to reach the half-way stage on three under par.

Despite playing in only his third event as a professional, McIlroy had set his sights on a maiden victory following his superb third place at the Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews on Sunday.

He could only manage a first-round 73 in blustery conditions at Club de Campo on the outskirts of the Spanish capital yesterday, eight shots adrift of pacesetter Daniel Vancsik of Argentina.

But the former European amateur champion had not given up hope of forcing himself into contention if he could take advantage of more favourable conditions for the early starters.

"It was pretty tricky in the wind and the greens cut up a little bit as well. They will be a lot better on Friday morning, so if I can shoot something in the 60s I will be right there," he said.

The chances of that looked slim however when McIlroy bogeyed the 10th, his opening hole, and could only par the next six holes to lie two over par.

That meant the former European amateur champion had gone 25 holes without a birdie - he could not remember the last time that had happened - but he quickly made amends around the turn.

After holing from 10ft at the 17th, McIlroy pitched to two feet for another birdie at the 18th and then holed from 20ft on the first, a 451-yard par four rated the toughest hole on the course in the first round.

A superb tee shot on the par-three second set up another birdie and lifted McIlroy, leading amateur in the Open at Carnoustie in July, to two under par.

McIlroy had a great chance for his fifth birdie in a row on the third after splashing out of a greenside bunker to three feet - but he saw his putt catch the edge of the hole and spin out.

Another visit to the sand on the next resulted in a bogey five and dropped the youngster back to one under par - six off the lead now shared by Vancsik, Kaymer and Spain's Alejandro Canizares.

France's Jean Van de Velde, playing alongside McIlroy, was one shot behind on six under after fortunately finding his ball in the rough on the fifth just inside the allotted five-minute search period.