Struggling Australian Scott Gardiner and World No. 2 are near the top of the Wells Fargo Championship leaderboard midway through the second round of the $6.7m event all thanks to Dave Stockton.
Gardiner ended the second round in a three way tie for second place on seven under par and two behind Phil Mickelson who heads the field on nine under par.
Gardiner turned to Stockton earlier this week and the short-game guru got the Aussie pointed in the right direction with scores of 70 and 67 on the Quail Hollow course at Charlotte, North Carolina.
The 30-year old Sydney-born Gardiner has played a dozen events this year but has missed the cut in his past eight events, and failing also to break 70 in those 16 rounds.
Gardiner, of Aboriginal heritage, put himself in the final third day pairing with four-time Major winning Phil Mickelson, and the chance of a first PGA Tour victory.
“I just haven’t been putting it together. I’ve putted poorly all year, haven’t really saved any shots around the greens.
“It’s just nice to get a few birdies and save a few pars because, when I have been giving myself opportunities, I haven’t been taking them.”
Aussie Scott Gardiner ends a run of eight missed cut to be in contention in the Wells Fargo Championship. (Photo – Eoin Clarke/www.golffile.ie)
McIlroy is no stranger to doing well at Quail Hollow having broken through in 2010 to claim in maiden PGA Tour win that included a blistering final round 62.
Then last year, the double Major winner was runner-up to American Rickie Fowler.
McIlroy, who will celebrate his 24th birthday on day three of the event, stepped to Quail Hollow’s 10th tee at 7:30 a.m and walked off the ninth some four-and-a-half hours later with a round of 71.
“Apart from my early wake-up call, I played well and I gave myself plenty of chances again, didn’t hole as many putts as yesterday, but you’re not going to hole every putt on these greens,” he said.
“So as long as I keep giving myself chances that is the most important thing.
“The greens were a lot faster today than they happened to be yesterday afternoon. “It took a little bit of time to get adjusted. But I think this week it’s all about fairways and greens. If you can do that, not every putt’s going to drop, but I think if you’ve given yourself the chances, you take a few of them and you’ll be right there.”
When the morning wave was finished, McIlroy was one shot off the lead held by Gardiner and with McIlroy tied with Lee Westwood, Rod Pampling and Jason Kokrak at six under.
For the second straight day, McIlroy hit 11 fairways and he managed one more green in regulation, 16, to be exact, in the second round so tee to green he’s been extremely solid. He used 33 putts but capitalized when he could and even though he was 1 over on the par 5s, McIlroy couldn’t be too disappointed.
“I think it shows how the rest of my game is that I’m still right there and still able to score,” he added.
