McIlroy impressing again

Rory McIlroy continued to put his recent woes behind him in the second round of the St Jude Classic in Memphis.

McIlroy, who will defend his US Open title in San Francisco next week, came into the event on the back of three straight missed cuts but opened with a solid round of 68 at TPC Southwind.

And the Northern Irishman picked up three shots on the front nine today to lie five under, just one shot behind the lead shared by American duo Jeff Maggert and JB Holmes.

McIlroy parred the opening hole and then picked up a birdie on the second before carding an eagle three on the third.

Six straight pars followed to complete an outward half of 32 and keep the world number two right in contention.

Maggert had five holes of his round to play, but Holmes had set the clubhouse target on six under thanks to a superb 64.

Holmes raced to the turn in 29 with six birdies to raise hopes of a magical sub-60 round, but from there he could only manage one more birdie and one bogey to come home in 35.

"I was hitting my driver well, hit my irons pretty close and made some putts on the front," Holmes said. "It (a sub-60 round) always pops in your head a little bit when you go that low early and I hit it well on the back too but I just didn't make the putts.

"I still hit some in there around 15 feet but didn't make the putts. I made two bad swings today, I got away with one of them and one I didn't and that was the bogey.

"It could have been a few better but it was a great round of golf and I'm happy with it."

Ireland's Padraig Harrington, playing alongside McIlroy and Graeme McDowell, was three off the lead on three under, but McDowell was on his way to missing the cut at five over.