US PGA Championship: Rory McIlroy in raptures as he finds the magic is on his side again

They are the twin body guards of Oak Hill, 17 and 18, the two hardest holes on the course ready to biff any chancer that gets out of line on the way in. Well, on a glorious afternoon yesterday it was Rory McIlroy who was dishing the punishment, birdying both to give himself an outside chance of retaining his US PGA Championship.

McIlroy’s 67 was his lowest of the week and took him to three under par. With Jim Furyk leading on nine under, McIlroy will have to touch the magic again today, but as history teaches us, most recently at The Open, where Phil Mickelson prevailed from five in arrears, no door is closed in this business. Moreover, after a day in which the leaders struggled to establish hegemony, McIlroy has only six players ahead of him.

It is a while since we have witnessed the McIlroy fist pump but out it came as his chip rolled in at the last, a short right hander to remind the field of the perils of dropping their guard. “Come on he screamed.” Well he might. He brought the penultimate hole to its knees with a putt all of 50 feet. You might say he was pleased to add a little substance to his pre-match claims of returning vitality. “It was good to feel that sort of rush again. Making a birdie at 17 is like an eagle and then to follow it up with another on the last is even better,” he said. “I know this is a major championship and it’s a bit different but I felt good enough about my game to go out there and post a good one today and at least give myself a chance.”

Lee Westwood felt equally optimistic after a round of 68 left him on the same three under total and once again in the running for that maiden major. Unlike the Open championship, where he led into the last round, he is coming from the pack here. “My game is strong and getting better every day. I feel like I'm getting more control on the golf ball. I'm definitely hitting the ball better than I was at Muirfield. Another Sunday and another chance,” he said.

Not, sadly, a mantra available to Justin Rose, who experienced a catastrophic outward nine, covering in 42 strokes a sequence of holes he conquered in 29 the day before. Rose steadied on the back nine but at one over par is a long way from adding to his US Open crown this afternoon. The same can be said of Tiger Woods. One week after taking down Firestone with an awesome 61 at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, a tournament he would walk by seven shots, Woods managed only one birdie in a round of 73 to end all talk of a 15th major this term.

“It was hard for me. I didn't play very well,” Woods said. “I didn't hit it very good, didn't make anything, kept blocking every putt. So it was a tough day. I just haven't got my takeaway right. Just one of those weeks where it's just a fraction off, and a fraction off on a set-up like this, it's going to cost me.” A consensus is forming around the theory that after five years without a major victory, Woods is struggling with the pressure of chasing down Jack Nicklaus’s total of 18 majors. That, and the degree of difficulty associated with major tracks, means the big victories are beyond him now. He only wins on courses he likes, that suit his eye. Right now that looks a powerful argument and remains irrefutable until he crosses the line.

America’s other great poster boy, Mickelson, was all over the place, typified by his saga at the short par-4, 14th, at which he chose driver to reach the green in one. He missed. From the rough he chipped across the green to more rough, and then repeated the exercise. Having finally found the putting surface, his bogey putt lipped out from three feet for a double. At the next hole he was in the water off the tee for another bogey. At 16 he was hacking out of the rough yet again after a wayward tee shot. He eventually signed for a 78, leaving him second last on ten over par.

Into the gap left by Woods and Mickelson stepped Jason Dufner, who is in every sense the anti-Woods; unheralded, unassuming and distinctly unglamorous. A bottom lip that protrudes beneath a mass of unruly hair is made for chewing grass; his generous girth goes boldly before him. His sloth-like appearance has even given rise to a craze, Dufnering, which involves sitting slumped against a wall, legs out front, with a vacant expression cast across the face. All of this is augmented by a pre swing routine that features as many as eight wiggles of the club at address before pulling the trigger.

Dufner lowered the course record to 63 on Friday to lead by two on nine under par. He suspected Saturday might be different and he was right. Oak Hill was not the supine lion cub it had been on Friday but the full beast, feasting on the frail. Dufner was round in 71 to fall one off the lead. Adam Scott shot a 72 to start four back today alongside Steve Stricker, who carded a 70.

Poulter finds the bright side

If ever there was a deflating day of disappointed ambitions and a reality check that slaps a person in the face, it was yesterday for Ian Poulter. He started the day 10 shots off the pace but optimistic he could mount a challenge of some kind in the US PGA Championship.

"Saturday morning at the last major of the year. Feels like a great day to make a run," he mused before his late morning tee-off. Things turned out rather differently. By the time he walked off the third green, he had three bogeys on his card and had slipped to four over.

"I was absolutely shit today," he moaned on Twitter after finishing with two double bogeys in the last four holes of a seven-over-par 77. "The best news is I get back to Orlando really early afternoon to see my wife and kids. Always a bright side."

Slice of luck for Blixt

Someone check the Wanamaker Trophy. The name Jonas Blixt might already be on it. If the Swede does get home today, and he starts on six under par, it will be in no small part as a result of the outrageous fortune he encountered at the last when his errant tee shot flew straight into the back pocket of a spectator. A free drop followed, then a birdie.

You’re right. Blixt had never done that before, but he had seen something similar. “A friend of my father hit someone in the ass one day. The first thing that came out of his mouth? Did it plug? He didn't have to play from there.”

His playing partner Lee Westwood was equally disbelieving. “I couldn't get a card and a pencil in my back pocket, never mind a golf ball. So he's doing well to catch that on the fly, that gentleman. The Yankees should sign him up.”

Record rounds

Jason Dufner equalled the major record with a 63 in the second round at Oak Hill. He is the 24th player to achieve the feat, with Greg Norman and Vijay Singh having done it twice.

Masters

Nick Price 1986

Greg Norman 1996

US Open

Johnny Miller 1973

Jack Nicklaus 1980

Tom Weiskopf 1980

Vijay Singh 2003

The Open

Mark Hayes 1977

Isao Aoki 1980

Greg Norman 1986

Paul Broadhurst 1990

Jodie Mudd 1991

Nick Faldo 1993

Payne Stewart 1993

Rory McIlroy 2010

US PGA Championship

Bruce Crampton 1975

Raymond Floyd 1982

Gary Player 1984

Vijay Singh 1993

Michael Bradley 1995

Brad Faxon 1995

Jose Maria Olazabal 2000

Mark O'Meara 2001

Thomas Bjorn 2005

Tiger Woods 2007

Steve Stricker 2011

Jason Dufner 2013

Leaderboard

207

Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 69 71 67

208

Dustin Johnson (US) 72 71 65

Kevin Streelman (US) 70 72 66

209

Marc Warren (Sco) 74 67 68

David Toms (US) 71 69 69

Francesco Molinari (It) 72 68 70

Marc Leishman (Aus) 70 70 70

211

Luke Guthrie (US) 71 71 69

Boo Weekley (US) 72 69 70

Scott Jamieson (Sco) 69 72 70

212

Rafael Cabrera-Belo (Sp) 68 75 69

K J Choi (S Kor) 76 65 71

213

Chris Kirk (US) 71 69 73

Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) 72 68 73

Ryan Moore (US) 69 71 73

Brandt Snedeker (US) 70 73 70

Brendon De Jonge (Zim) 71 71 71

David Hearn (Can) 66 76 71

Ken Duke (US) 75 68 70

Josh Teater (US) 71 71 71

Keegan Bradley (US) 69 72 72

214

Ryan Palmer (US) 73 70 71

Brooks Koepka (US) 71 72 71

Vijay Singh (Fij) 70 72 72

Tiger Woods (US) 71 70 73

215

D A Points (US) 73 70 72

Harris English (US) 74 69 72

J J Henry (US) 71 71 73

Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 71 70 74

John Senden (Aus) 72 70 73

Matteo Manassero (It) 72 69 74

Danny Willett (Eng) 73 70 72

Peter Hanson (Swe) 72 69 74

216

Matt Jones (Aus) 72 71 73

Scott Stallings (US) 73 70 73

John Merrick (US) 75 68 73

Tommy Gainey (US) 69 74 73

Darren Clarke (N Irl) 69 73 74

Thongchai Jaidee (Thai) 70 71 75

Shane Lowry (Rep of Ire) 71 70 75

217

Ben Curtis (US) 73 70 74

218

Ian Poulter (Eng) 70 71 77

219

Stephen Gallacher (Sco) 75 68 76

220

Phil Mickelson (US) 71 71 78

223

Gary Woodland (US) 73 70 80

Second-round scores

131

Jason Dufner (US) 68 63

133

Adam Scott (Aus) 65 68; Matt Kuchar (US) 67 66; Jim Furyk (US) 65 68

134

Justin Rose (Eng) 68 66; Henrik Stenson (Swe) 68 66

135

Robert Garrigus (US) 67 68; Steve Stricker (US) 68 67

136

Webb Simpson (US) 72 64; Martin Kaymer (Ger) 68 68; Charley Hoffman (US) 69 67; Marcus Fraser (Aus) 67 69

137

Sergio Garcia (Sp) 69 68; Roberto Castro (US) 68 69

138

Scott Piercy (US) 67 71; Jason Day (Aus) 67 71; Hunter Mahan (US) 70 68; Rickie Fowler (US) 70 68; Bill Haas (US) 68 70; David Lynn (Eng) 69 69; Jonas Blixt (Swe) 68 70

139

Lee Westwood (Eng) 66 73; Zach Johnson (US) 69 70; Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Thai) 68 71; Paul Casey (Eng) 67 72; Michael Thompson (US) 72 67; Graeme McDowell (N Ire) 70 69

140

Ryo Ishikawa (Japan) 69 71; Tim Clark (SA) 69 71; Miguel Angel Jimenez (Sp) 68 72