Rory McIlroy labels second round 'scrappy' but remains in hunt to defend Truist Championship

Rory McIlroy admitted to playing 'scrappy' golf in the second round of the Truist Championship but he remains firmly in the mix to successfully defend his title.

McIlroy, 36, carded a 3-under 67 in a round that contained six birdies and three bogeys. 

The World No.2 is making his first individual start on the PGA Tour this week since he became just the sixth player in the history of the men's game to complete the career grand slam at The Masters last month. 

McIlroy bumped himself up to 7-under par to lie tied fourth heading into the weekend.

But the Northern Irishman has got plenty of work to do in order to defend his title as Keith Mitchell remains out in front on 12-under after also going round in 67. 

McIlroy's good pal Shane Lowry (65) is one shot behind on 11-under par. 

Lowry's European Ryder Cup teammate Sepp Straka (67) is a further shot back in solo third on 10-under par. 

There's then a three-shot gap back to McIlroy, Collin Morikawa (70), Justin Thomas (67), Akshay Bhatia (70), Si Woo Kim (68) and Patrick Cantlay (68) in tied fourth on 7-under par. 

The second round was played earlier in the day as a result of bad weather in the area. 

McIlroy admitted to once again being rusty on a bleak Friday at Philadephia Cricket Club.

But he's thankful he still has a shot to defend his title with two rounds to play. 

"Yeah, I felt like today was another sort of scrappy one," said McIlroy, who has one eye on getting his game in shape ahead of next week's PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club.

"I made what I feel are some uncharacteristic mistakes compared to how I've played the majority of the year.

"So just got to try to iron that out over the next couple of days, try to shoot a couple of scores without as many bogeys on the card.

"If I can do that and just tidy it up a little bit, I feel like I'll be in a good spot heading into next week."

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