Robert MacIntyre now looks primed to move past reigning Open Champion Shane Lowry and past Masters winner Sergio Garcia on the World Rankings after this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Lowry’s indifferent season continued after the Irishman missed the halfway cut with rounds of 74 and 75 on the famed Bay Hill course in suburban Orlando.

MacIntyre’s position just gets better in posting a gutsy second round 70 to head the clubhouse just inside the top-20 at two-under par on day two of the £stg 6.7m event.

Robert MacIntyre set to move to No. 40 on the World Rankings

The Oban lefty had ‘tweeted’ himself a reminder on Monday to bring his ‘short game’ to ‘Arnie’s event’ and for two rounds MacIntyre’s done just that.

Starting from the 10^th hole, he posted three birdies over his outward half holing a 15-footer at the 12^th, two putting from 33-feet for birdie at 16, and a second straight birdie at the hole, before a brilliant 19-footer gem for birdie at 18.

Even with a bogey at his sixth hole, MacIntyre recorded an outward nine of just 13 putts ahead of sandwiching a 16^th hole bogey among eight inward half pars.

MacIntyre hit seven of 14 fairways and with a best drive of 313-yards over water at the boomerang-shaped, par-5 sixth hole.

In the bigger World Ranking picture, a top-10 finish would see MacIntyre jump three places to yet another career best of World No. 40 and with Lowry, in missing the cut, set to drop to 41^st.

MacIntyre would also bump 2017 Masters champion Garcia out of his current 41^st place given the Spaniard is not competing at Bay Hill.

Fellow Scot Russell Knox picked-up 18 spots to be just outside the leading 50 with three birdies in a 71 to get back to one-over par.

Former Bay Hill winner Martin Laird was out in the afternoon half of the field.