Wyndham Clark posted a flawless second round at the BMW Championship in St. Louis on Friday, moving to 12-under-par and taking the outright lead by one stroke over Gary Woodland. Clark is the only player in the field without a bogey through 36 holes.
Rory McIlroy, who had shared the overnight lead with Clark after a six-under opening round, fell back to seven-under following a one-under 69. He sits five shots off the pace heading into the weekend.
According to BBC Sport, McIlroy said he planned to spend time on the range after the round. "I feel like conditions were pretty similar to yesterday," McIlroy told the Golf Channel. "The wind was coming out of a different direction, but still very scorable. The greens are soft, maybe the ball's got a little bit more run out on the fairways, but you'll still see guys shooting pretty good scores today. I didn't quite hit it as good as I did yesterday, so probably an afternoon on the range for me."
McIlroy, the reigning Masters champion, managed to limit the damage on the back nine despite not hitting the ball as cleanly as he had in the first round. He credited several key par saves for keeping him within striking distance. "I'm proud of how I just hung in there. A lot of good par putts on the back nine, especially. The only bogey I had was with a mistake on the par-five eighth hole, but I made some really good par saves coming in and that sort of kept me in it," he said.
JJ Spaun sits third at 10-under, with Sung-Jae Im and Chris Gotterup tied at nine-under. Patrick Cantlay and Michael Thorbjornsen are at eight-under. Collin Morikawa is grouped with McIlroy at seven-under.
Among the English contingent, Justin Rose is the best-placed at four-under. Robert MacIntyre of Scotland sits at three-under alongside Matthew Fitzpatrick. Tommy Fleetwood is two-under.
The third round begins Saturday with Clark holding a one-shot lead and a two-round record of sustained accuracy that no other player in the field has matched.
