![\"Ryan](\"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789762390_527_WYT5ZEVAZUTUBCUXKRB2JMRID4.jpg\")
Ryan Gerard will take a two-shot lead into the weekend. Photograph: Richard Heathcote\/Getty Images <\/p>\nRory McIlroy played himself back into contention at the BMW PGA Championship with a five-under par second round to sit four shots off the lead as American Ryan Gerard set the pace at Wentworth.<\/p>\n
The Northern Irishman had made three bogeys over his final six holes during the first round, but soon got himself moving back in the right direction after three birdies through the opening five on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n
McIlroy \u2013 who is trying to reel in Patrick Reed to win a record-equalling eighth Race to Dubai title \u2013 then dropped a shot on the par-four eighth to head into the turn on 33. That was soon recovered after he rolled in another birdie from 16 feet on 11.<\/p>\n
A birdie on the par-three 14th was followed by a bogey at 16, having sent his second shot into the rough.<\/p>\n
The 17th then presented an eagle chance, which rolled just wide, before he tapped in and then made another birdie on the last to sign for a 67.<\/p>\n
Reed \u2013 bidding to become only the second American after Collin Morikawa to win the Race to Dubai \u2013 retired with injury at nine over in his second round \u2013 to open the door for McIlroy over the weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately he\u2019s pulled out this week, which gives me an opportunity to try to claw back some ground that I lost last week in Ireland,\u201d said the world number two.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis weekend is a big weekend for me to pick up a few points and make the race even tighter going into these last few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shane Lowry made the weekend thanks to a birdie-birdie finish as the Irish Open winner signed for a three-under 69 to move to four under.<\/p>\n
Tom McKibbin carded a level-par 72 to finish outside the cut on one over, while P\u00e1draig Harrington also misses the weekend action after a 77 dropped him back to seven over. <\/p>\n
Gerard \u2013 who had started the day at five under \u2013 rolled in a fine eagle from 20 feet on the 17th to take the solo lead, before finishing with a birdie in a flawless 65.<\/p>\n
Ryan Gerard will take a two-shot lead into the weekend. Photograph: Richard Heathcote\/Getty Images <\/p>\n
Adam Scott finished at 10 under after his 67, which could have been lower but for three bogeys.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have had a couple of easy weeks,\u201d the Australian said. \u201cI felt a little under done, probably, golf-wise coming in here, but at least fresh mentally. I think that has been good for me the last couple days.\u201d<\/p>\n
Italy\u2019s Filippo Celli \u2013 who returned to the tour this year after losing his card in 2024 and is making his Wentworth debut \u2013 scored seven birdies and dropped just one shot in a second round of 66.<\/p>\n
US PGA champion Aaron Rai \u2013 playing alongside Masters winner McIlroy and Open champion Ryan Fox in the marquee group \u2013 also had a birdie-birdie finish for his 69, which leaves the Englishman at nine under alongside Spain\u2019s Manuel Elvira.<\/p>\n
JJ Spaun, who started on the 10th, made an eagle on the 18th in his 66 and sits at eight under, alongside McIlroy, Fox, Nacho Elvira and England\u2019s Ross Fisher, who also shot a five-under second round.<\/p>\n
Former US Open champion Spaun revealed he could yet decide to play more DP World Tour given the upcoming structure changes of the PGA Tour.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was kind of like a stepping stone, just to see how it was and if I like it,\u201d he said. \u201cI definitely feel like I am going to plan a little bit more of a global schedule or a European schedule moving forward in the fall time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Wallace is on his own at seven under. Jordan Smith made two eagles as well as a double bogey in his 67 to sit in a group at six under which includes defending champion Alex Noren, who also made a move up the leaderboard, five under for the day<\/p>\n
Tommy Fleetwood will miss the cut at three over, while two-time Major winner Jon Rahm slumped towards the bottom of the field at 11 over after labouring to a 77, for the worst 36-hole total of his career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy played himself back into contention at the BMW PGA Championship with a five-under par second round…","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"csco_display_header_overlay":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_volume":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[332,418,17,40,525],"class_list":["post-12874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rory-mcilroy","tag-dp-world-tour","tag-padraig-harrington","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-shane-lowry","tag-tom-mckibbin","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@fogolf\/117293871618341384","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}