Rory McIlroy always heads into Quail Hollow with high expectations given his impressive record of winning the Truist Championship four times, but any other weekend would have been seen as a disappointment, having won his second Masters in his last start.
After the first round, McIlroy posted a disappointing 1-under 70, leaving him seven strokes behind the lead, but he hurriedly made up for it with a second-round 67 on Friday, moving him into the top 10 of the leaderboard, four strokes behind Lim Sung-jae, who was at nine under.
It was another slow start to the round for McIlroy, who turned the round at even par, but thanks to some incredible iron play on the back nine, he caught fire after the turn and made five birdies in seven holes.
McIlroy’s final birdie of the day came just over 100 yards from the left hole after a 395-yard drive on the 505-yard 16th hole, aided by a big bounce off the cart path on the right.
He used that break to drive a nice wedge into the bottom of the hole and sink the birdie putt. He had a rare birdie at the start of the Green Mile at Quail Hollow, but he lost his way going from bunker to bunker on the 18th and couldn’t make the ups and downs for par at the end.
Despite the trouble at the end, it was more than the performance expected from McIlroy, especially at Quail Hollow. After his round, he lamented the missed shots, including a few mistakes from close range on the green, but was happy to see improvement from Thursday and hoped that trend would continue over the weekend.
Playing in the group in front of McIlroy on Friday was Tommy Fleetwood, who shot a 67 for the second year in a row to move into sole second place at 8 under. It’s been a surprisingly slow year for Fleetwood, who entered 2026 with high expectations after finally hitting his stride with last year’s Tour Championship victory. Instead, he has struggled to find himself in serious competition this year, falling behind his usual 54th place in ball-striking on tour in strokes gained approach this week.
He has been very consistent from tee to green since the start of the week, but it was the putter that turned the tide for the Englishman in the first two rounds. Fleetwood is fifth in putting strokes gained so far and looks very comfortable on the greens at Quail Hollow.
Many thought Fleetwood would have a similar year to Cameron Young after both made breakthroughs last year and won their first PGA Tour wins. Perhaps this week marks Fleetwood’s own start to 2026. That’s because he played an incredibly solid second round and looks a lot like the player he was competing to finish out 2025 on a weekly basis.
leader
1. Im Sung Jae (-9)
Im, who missed all of West Coast’s swing with a wrist injury, has struggled to find his best form this season. He showed flashes in the Valspar he led on Sunday, finishing T4 after a rough final round, but other than that, his best finish this season was a T42 at RBC Heritage. But by returning to a comfortable course at Quail Hollow, where he finished in the top 10 in 2023 and 2024, the Korean star played some of the best golf we’ve seen all year.
Im shot a 64 on Thursday, but on Friday he shot a solid 69 to take the sole lead at 9 under. With some big names chasing him, he needs to keep his foot on the gas and avoid the kind of disappointing rounds that have plagued him all year, but Im’s ball-striking performance over the first two days was much more in line with what we’ve grown accustomed to seeing throughout his career.
other candidates
2. Tommy Fleetwood (-8)
T3. Justin Thomas, Alex Fitzpatrick (-7)
T5. David Lipsky, Christopher Reitan, Nikolaj Hojgaard (-6)
T8. Rory McIlroy, Harris English, Rickie Fowler, Matt McCarty (-5)
T12. Cameron Young, Ludvig Oberg, and 3 others (-4)
Justin Thomas is putting together one of his best weeks of the year, and his strong play so far can be credited to an assist from Cam Young. Thomas explained Friday that the new putter in his bag is the same as Young’s putter.
“I literally texted (Scotty) Cameron’s players and said, ‘Give me Cam’s putter,'” Thomas said. “I had been watching him make putts for quite some time and always thought they looked really good, so I thought, ‘I want Cam Young’s putter.’
The change has worked well for him, as he is 10th in strokes gained putts so far this week and, like Im, is looking for his best finish of the season so far (T8 at The Players) after a slow start due to injury.
Joining Thomas in a tie for third is Alex Fitzpatrick, who has been riding a wave of confidence since winning the Zurich Classic with his brother Matt two weeks ago. Fitzpatrick, who finished in the top 10 at Doral in the first Signature Event opener of the year, returned to racing a week later and is proving how important confidence is to doing your best.
Rickie Fowler was in charge of today’s round, and after posting a 74 on Thursday, he shot an 8-under 63 to improve from 61st to 9th place. Fowler didn’t have a single circle on his cards Thursday, but he made nine birdies in the second round as he got hot from tee to green and maintained a blistering pace all afternoon.
Also lurking five strokes off the pace is last week’s winner Young. After his performance in Doral he could be forgiven for not showing his best, but he still managed to make it onto the leaderboard and will be a threat come the weekend.
Green Mile’s rare ace
The shot of the day belonged to Chandler Blanchett, who arrived at the 17th hole at two over for the week, but one swing of the club on the difficult par 3 brought him back to even par.
In his second career round at Quail Hollow, Blanchett pounded an absolute seed toward the flag and rolled like a putt for an ace.
Updated Trust Championship odds and picks
Odds by BetMGM Sportsbook
- Tommy Fleetwood (19/5)
- Rory McIlroy (5-1)
- Im Sung Jae (6-1)
- Justin Thomas (15/2)
- Cameron Young (14-1)
- Nikolai Huygor (14-1)
- Alex Fitzpatrick (16-1)
Even if McIlroy has an easy week, it’s a little scary for other players to be a few shots away on this golf course. Now’s the time to take a shot at McIlroy, as I don’t predict his odds to be higher than 5-1 as of Saturday’s end. I’m a little wary of Fleetwood because the special gear hasn’t been there this year – Yim and Thomas as well – and I think if McIlroy stays fit over the weekend, that could open the door for a long-range shot. Fitzpatrick is leading the way in hitting the ball, but he’s actually dropping his strokes on the greens, so I think there’s an upside for him if he can putt a little better.
