Rory McIlroy maintains share of the lead at Scottish Open

By Andy Hampson, Press Association

Rory McIlroy will head into the weekend at the Genesis Scottish Open in a share of the lead after shooting a second-round 66 on Friday.

But while the Masters champion made steady progress to reach nine under at the Renaissance Club, it was a disappointing day for Scottie Scheffler in North Berwick, as the world number one missed the cut.

McIlroy sat alongside England’s Jordan Smith, who carded a day’s best seven-under-par 63, and South Korean Tom Kim.

McIlroy almost chipped in for an eagle at the first, settling for a birdie, before picking up three further shots to reach the turn in 31.

He almost holed his approach to the 13th but then made his only significant mistake of his round as he missed the resulting par putt.

The 2023 Scottish Open winner quickly made amends as he almost eagled the 14th and was left with a birdie that put him back into that three-way tie for first.

McIlroy said on Sky Sports: “I thought I played well again. The wind definitely got up in the afternoon but I got off to a really nice start.

“By the turn the wind had got to its strongest and it was hard to get the ball close to the pins and we were all just making a lot of pars.

“It would have been nice to be a couple better but it’s obviously another solid day and I’m in a great position. I’m excited for the weekend.”

Smith surged into contention with a sparkling round that included a run of four successive birdies from the 11th.

That left him one ahead of Matt Fitzpatrick, whose round of 65 featured a run of five straight birdies, and Australia’s Min Woo Lee.

Robert MacIntyre, the 2024 winner who was playing alongside McIlroy and defending champion Chris Gotterup, finished on seven under after a 66. Gotterup, who also won the John Deere Classic last weekend, joined him by carding 65.

US Open champion Wyndham Clark and Danny Willett were among the players on six under.

The cut came at two under, meaning a far-from-ideal Royal Birkdale preparation for defending Open champion Scheffler.

The American will have to content himself with an early look at the Merseyside links ahead of next week’s final major of the year.

Scheffler needed a birdie at the par-three ninth, his final hole, to make the weekend but failed to hole a chip from just off the green and missed a six-foot par putt.

He admitted his plans had now changed.

“A little different to what I was planning,” he said. “I’ll figure out how to get down to Birkdale and kind of go from there.”

Also missing out were US PGA champion Aaron Rai, newly-crowned US Senior Open winner Padraig Harrington and fellow Irishman Shane Lowry, and another recent Open champion in Xander Schauffele.

Spain’s Jon Rahm, who was five over after 11 holes on Thursday, continued his recovery as he shot 65 to make the cut on two under.