Max Homa fired a second-round 62 to move two clear of Chris Kirk at the BMW Championship; Matt Fitzpatrick three back with Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler five behind; watch the third round live on Saturday from 3pm via the red button on Sky Sports Golf, ahead of full coverage from 6pm
By Ali Stafford
Last Updated: 18/08/23 11:08pm
Rory McIlroy sits five strokes off the halfway lead at the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship
Rory McIlroy was unable to build on his fast start to the BMW Championship as Max Homa opened a two-shot halfway lead over Chris Kirk in Illinois.
McIlroy held a share of the lead after the opening day and made a strong start to round two by rolling in from 12 feet at the third, with the reigning FedExCup champion holing from 10 feet to save par at the seventh as he reached the turn in 34.
The world No 2 ended a run of pars when a wayward drive into the trees at the par-five 15th resulted in a penalty drop and a bogey, with McIlroy unable to add to his birdie tally along the closing stretch on his way to a level-par 70 at Olympia Fields Country Club.
-10 Max Homa (USA)
-8 Chris Kirk (USA)
-7 Brian Harman (USA), Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng)
Others: -5 Rory McIlroy (NIrl), Scottie Scheffler (USA); +2 Jon Rahm (Esp)
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McIlroy accidently hit himself with his own club after a tee shot
McIlroy heads into the weekend in a five-way tie for fifth place on five under, while Homa charged top of the leaderboard by mixing 10 birdies with two bogeys in a stunning second-round 62.
“Pretty mediocre,” McIlroy said about his round. One birdie, one bogey. Gave myself tons of chances. I felt like I hit good putts, just hit a lot of edges and the ball just sort of slid by. I don’t feel like I played too different to how I played yesterday, I just got a bit more out of my round yesterday.”
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Homa took advantage of the par-five first and made three birdies in four holes from the seventh, only to fail to get up and down from the greenside bunker at the par-three eighth and close a front-nine 32.
The American made five birdies in a six-hole stretch from the 10th and scrambled a bogey at the par-three 16th after nearly finding water off the tee, then holed from 20 feet at the next to get back to 10 under.
Max Homa is chasing a third victory of the PGA Tour season
Kirk posted a second successive 66 to grab solo second ahead of Open champion Brian Harman and England’s Matt Fitzpatrick, who carded rounds of 68 and 67 respectively, while Justin Rose opened with four straight birdies on his way to a four-under 66.
Rose is joined on five under by McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Harris English and world No 1 Scottie Scheffler – who struggled on the greens again and registered just one birdie in a bogey-free 69 – with two-time defending champion Patrick Cantlay a further stroke back in tied-10th.
Scottie Scheffler is five strokes off the halfway lead at the BMW Championship
FedExCup leader Jon Rahm dropped to tied-35th and 12 strokes off the lead after a second-round 74, while Ireland’s Ryder Cup hopeful Seamus Power props up the leaderboard after rounds of 76 and 72.
Watch the BMW Championship live throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Early coverage continues Saturday from 3pm via the red button on Sky Sports Golf, ahead of full coverage from 6pm.
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