MAGIC MAN RORY STILL IN THE HUNT

Wonder shot as McIlroy makes cut

An exasperating round that began with a great escape before descending into a dark and gloomy place ended with hopeful shafts of light for Rory McIlroy at the 99th PGA Championship at Quail Hollow yesterday.

Goodness, his erratic game is testing his patience and sanity to the limit at present and particularly on a brutally humid morning that turned this sedate part of north Carolina into a veritable steam bath.

But at the end there was a bit of resilience and spirit that suggests the 10 shots separating him from the runaway halfway leader, American Kevin Kisner, is still retrievable.

After all, he made up nine strokes on Billy Mayfair on this course at the 2010 Wells Fargo Championship, where he finished with a final-round 62.

McIlroy finished his day begging a putt that was hanging over the hole at the ninth to drop but it somehow defied gravity and stayed above ground.

It would have been his third birdie in a row to match the tough par of 71, but it has been that sort of season to date for Rory.

‘Some of the pin positions out there were so tough I felt like I only had about six birdie chances all day,’ said the 28-year-old.

‘I know Kevin’s on fire right now and we need him to give us a bit of a chance, but I still feel like I am right in it heading into the weekend.

‘The way the course is set up a low score is not a 62 but a 66 or 67 and I do feel like I have got two of those in me.’

Of the morning starters, no one else got near the wondrous eight- under-par total posted by Kisner, following a second 67. After all the talk about this being a ballpark for long hitters, the pacesetter is a plodder who showed there’s still some value in making sure you hit the fairways.

The next best total, a full five shots worse, was McIlroy’s playing partner, Rickie Fowler, who will have yet another chance over the next two days to get off the mark and finally claim his first major.

McIlroy might have ended the round feeling as if he was right in it but it didn’t look like that halfway down his first hole of the day. Rory, indeed, looked as if he was on the road to ruin.

With a par five for openers, he was hoping to hit his stride early and jump- start his challenge after an opening 72.

Trouble was, a wild opening tee shot at the 10th was followed by an even wilder second shot. It crashed into the trees before bouncing back down a cart path.

now he really was in a world of bother. On and on it went before coming to rest in such a precarious spot it left him facing a calamitous big number to begin his day. Trees left and right. The narrow cart path in front of him. no bail-out shot. Everyone was looking at each other, stumped. What does he do now?

Sometimes you need great imagination to go alongside great skill. McIlroy decided to use the cart path that threatened oblivion as the route back into the tournament.

Skipping the ball twice along the concrete with a six-iron, it skirted the trees, bushes and gallery before running through a bunker and finishing on the back of the green, from where he salvaged a par.

The day had begun with a small piece of magic.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever played a shot quite like that before,’ said the northern Irishman.

‘I thought I was a bit unlucky where it finished but it was great to escape with a par, as it could quite easily have been a six or seven.’

no need to look too hard to see where McIlroy needs to improve to shoot two 67s this weekend. In terms of proximity to the hole with his approaches he ranks 116th.

What makes that statistic particularly damning is those approaches usually follow a majestic drive, leaving him playing from spots 40 yards closer to the green than most players.

Englishman Jordan Smith will never forget his first appearance in a major. After beginning with a double bogey on Thursday, he fought back so well he was three under par after five holes yesterday and in joint seventh.

next up was the easiest hole on the course, the par-five 15th. A bogey there, alas, set in motion a horrible run that saw the 24-yearold from Chippenham give back all the shots he had recouped to lie three over again, one behind McIlroy.

But at least he’s around for the weekend to continue his great adventure.

As for near namesake Jordan Spieth, he was among the later starters.