McIlroy makes a mini-move

After struggling in the opening round, Rory McIlroy made a move up the leaderboard at The Barclays, shooting a 2-under 69 Friday to stand six shots off the lead entering the final two rounds.

It could have been better — he had it to 4-under through 14 holes — but bogeys on holes 15 and 16 halted his momentum.

“If there was any day or any time to make a good score [Friday] was it,’’ McIlroy said. “It looked like I was heading towards that, but I gave a couple back on the way in [on 15 and 16]. Anything in the 60s around this golf course is going to be OK.

“Two-under is still a decent score. I don’t think I’ll be too far away. I’m excited about going into the weekend and trying to shoot a good one [Saturday] to get into contention on Sunday.’’

Phil Mickelson, who finished runner-up at both U.S. Opens played at Bethpage Black (2002 and 2009) and has been saluted with huge ovations from the New York fans on every hole, is 1-over for the tournament after shooting 73 with a poor putting round.

“I had a tough putting day,’’ he said. “I thought I hit it pretty well, but putted very poorly. I feel like I’m going to play a couple good rounds on the weekend.’’

One of the best runs up the leaderboard came from Ryan Moore, who shot a 3-under-par 68 in the morning wave to get to 5-under. But Moore, who recently won the John Deere Classic, is one of the few players who insisted a berth on the Ryder Cup team is not on his radar.

“Honestly, that’s probably the farthest thing from my mind,’’ he said. “I’m just trying to play good golf and win golf tournaments and I’m trying to get to the Tour Championship.’’