Rory McIlroy summed up his comeback performance as “pretty good so far” after the second round of the Kolon Korea Open finished with the Northern Irishman two shots off the lead.
The world number six, who is playing his first tournament after a month-long break, is in a tie for fifth on three-under-par 139 having shot a 69 on day two at the Woo Jeong Hills Country Club course, near Cheonan. It could have been even better had he not bogeyed the ninth, his last.
McIlroy had a topsy-turvy opening nine, with two birdies and a bogey coming in his first four holes and him then dropping a shot on three holes in a row from 14 to 16. But the former world number one bounced back to score five birdies in the next 10 holes.
McIlroy said: “Pretty good so far. There were a few sloppy shots, or sloppily played holes. I made the bogeys on the back nine (his first nine) which wasn’t great but most of the other stuff was actually pretty solid. I’m in a good position going into the weekend.”
The four players ahead of McIlroy are all South Korean, with Hong Soon-sang carding a bogey-free three-under-par 68 to top the leaderboard on 137.
He is on five under overall, one stroke ahead of compa- triots Kang Sung-hoon, Kim Hyung-tae and Hwang In-choon, while tied fifth with McIlroy are two more home favourites – Yu Gyoung-yoon and Jang Ik-jae.