Rory McIlroy two off the lead as he battles to a 73 at Bay Hill

Rory McIlroy had one of those days in the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational where fortitude became a 15th club, and the mental game proved to be as important as shot-making on a course made more difficult by firmer greens and difficult pin positions, as he grinded his way to a 73.

Tyrrell Hatton demonstrated his physical well-being following wrist surgery over the winter with a 69 to add to an opening 68 for a midway total of seven-under-par 137 to assume a share of the lead in his quest for a breakthrough PGA Tour title. World number one McIlroy overcame a hot and cold front nine to stay on his heels and heads into Saturday’s third round two shots off the pace.

Hatton claimed five birdies and two bogeys in a round where his growing maturity was evident, as he kept focused despite losing his rhythm. He shares the lead with Korea’s Sung Kang, who finished like a train with four birdies in his final seven holes to sign for a 68.

Hatton said: “I feel like I lost my swing on the last nine holes, felt so uncomfortably over the ball and I literally didn’t know where it was going to go.

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“So I am a little bit surprised to be where I am. I have got my short game and my putter to thank for that, and hopefully that will continue into the weekend."

McIlroy’s choppy front nine was far removed from his free-flowing opening round, with the most damage inflicted on the Par 4 eighth hole where he ran up a double-bogey six.

The trouble started with a leaked tee-shot that finished in heavy rough on the right. Rather than chip back to the safety of the fairway, McIlroy would pay a heavy price for his aggressive intent: his first effort rose barely six inches high and moved a mere 20 yards, remaining in thick rough, and his third shot was a mirror image of that effort. Finally on the green in four, McIlroy two-putted from 25 feet.

Two birdies

The up-and-down nature of McIlroy’s front nature was reflected in turning in 38 strokes with two birdies (on the sixth and ninth), two bogeys (on the second and seventh) and that double on the eighth.

McIlroy found a steadier path on the homeward run, with a birdie on the Par 5 12th getting him back to five-under for the tournament and still very much in contention, only to drop a shot on the 15th.

He followed that bogey with a par on the 16th, before making a potentially priceless birdie two on the 17th, holing from nearly 20-feet to move back within striking distance of the leaders, and one stroke behind second-placed Danny Lee.

A final hole par saw McIlroy sign for his 73 - a tough day, but one which keeps him firmly in the mix heading into the weekend.

McIlroy’s fellow Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell also experienced a tougher second round, following up his opening 68 with a 74 to reach the midpoint on two-under-par 142. However, Pádraig Harrington missed the cut after slumping to a second round 79 for a 36-holes total of 153.

Tommy Fleetwood’s long cut-making streak finally came to an end. Just a week after failing to finish the job down the stretch in the Honda Classic, where he finished third, Fleetwood missed a cut for the first time in 48 worldwide starts stretching back to the 2018 French Open.

Although not in the field, further concerns about the fitness of Tiger Woods ahead of his defence of the Masters at Augusta next month were raised when it was confirmed by his manager that he would not be competing at next week’s The Players championship.

Woods had already missed this week’s tour stop, where he is an eight-time winner, and his absence from Sawgrass raises further doubts about his well-being. “[His] back is just not ready,” confirmed agent Mark Steinberg .

Woods has not played competitively since the Genesis Invitational last month, and has yet to announce when he will play again.

Arnold Palmer Invitational second round scores (USA unless stated, par 72)

137 Sung Kang (Kor) 69 68, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 68 69

138 Danny Lee (Nzl) 71 67

139 Rory McIlroy (Irl) 66 73, Sungjae Im (Kor) 70 69, Harris English 69 70

140 Brendon Todd 68 72, Sam Burns 68 72, Marc Leishman (Aus) 71 69, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 68 72, Tom Hoge 70 70, Patrick Reed 70 70

141 Scottie Scheffler 67 74, Scott Harrington 71 70, Collin Morikawa 70 71, Rickie Fowler 71 70

142 Kevin Na 70 72, Matt Wallace (Eng) 69 73, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 69 73, Graeme McDowell (Irl) 68 74, Jimmy Walker 73 69, Danny Willett (Eng) 71 71, Stewart Cink 72 70

143 Bud Cauley 71 72, Charley Hoffman 70 73, Matt Jones (Aus) 75 68, Adam Long 69 74, Patrick Rodgers 73 70, Keith Mitchell 68 75, Troy Merritt 71 72, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 71 72

144 Joel Dahmen 72 72, Rory Sabbatini (Svk) 70 74, Harold Varner III 70 74, Bryson DeChambeau 73 71, Lanto Griffin 71 73, Zac Blair 74 70

145 Rod Perry 72 73, Scott Brown 69 76, Zach Johnson 72 73, Davis Love III 72 73, Beau Hossler 73 72, Brian Gay 73 72, Kyoung-hoon Lee (Kor) 72 73, Keegan Bradley 73 72, Brooks Koepka 72 73, Xinjun Zhang (Chn) 70 75, Harry Higgs 72 73, Billy Horschel 72 73, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 70 75

146 Steve Stricker 72 74, Matthew Wolff 73 73, Jason Kokrak 71 75, Vaughn Taylor 73 73, Kevin Chappell 72 74, Wyndham Clark 74 72, Doc Redman 73 73, Ian Poulter (Eng) 69 77, Nick Taylor (Can) 73 73, Ryan Moore 71 75

147 Robby Shelton 72 75, Xander Schauffele 73 74, Viktor Hovland (Nor) 74 73, Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 71 76, Sam Saunders 74 73, Abraham Ancer (Mex) 73 74, Talor Gooch 67 80, Max Homa 72 75, Rob Oppenheim 69 78

The following players below missed the cut

148 Matthew NeSmith 70 78, Matt Every 65 83, Cameron Champ 74 74, Kevin Streelman 71 77, Brendan Steele 73 75, Maverick McNealy 73 75, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 74 74, Jim Herman 73 75, Corey Conners (Can) 73 75, Lee Westwood (Eng) 74 74, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 74 74

149 Andrew Putnam 72 77, Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 74 75, Adam Scott (Aus) 77 72, Scott Piercy 71 78, Brian Harman 77 72, Phil Mickelson 77 72, Tony Finau 75 74, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 75 74, Russell Knox (Sco) 75 74, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 77 72

150 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 70 80, Brian Stuard 77 73, Henrik Norlander (Swe) 78 72, Alex Noren (Swe) 73 77, Justin Rose (Eng) 73 77, Sepp Straka (Aut) 74 76, Tyler Duncan 73 77

151 Denny McCarthy 73 78, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 75 76, Bubba Watson 74 77, Kevin Tway 78 73, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 72 79, Charles Howell III 75 76

152 (a) Chun Ant Yu (Tpe) 74 78, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 76 76, Lucas Glover 75 77, Nate Lashley 79 73

153 Vijay Singh (Fij) 77 76, Pat Perez 77 76, Sam Ryder 75 78, Mark Hubbard 74 79, Cheng-Tsung Pan (Tai) 74 79, Kevin Kisner 74 79, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 74 79

154 Hank Lebioda 76 78

155 JT Poston 84 71

156 Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 74 82, Brendon Matthews 75 81

157 Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 80 77

167 Robert Gamez 83 84