McIlroy closes in on lead in Memphis despite cool putter

Rory McIlroy made five birdies in a second round 66 but he was left to rue an erratic putter in the FedEx St Jude Championship in steamy Memphis.

The world number two goes into the weekend just three shots behind Lucas Glover in the first playoff event as he chases down a fourth FedExCup title worth a cool $18 million

While he ripped a wedge to two feet at the first and knocked in birdie putts of 15 feet at the fourth, 11 feet at the eighth and eight feet at both the 15th and 16th, he missed eight putts between five and 15 feet before making an eight footer for par at the last.

Even after putting a new putter in the bag, the Co Down man was off target with a five footer for par at the fifth and another five footer for birdie at the sixth.

He also gave up birdie chances from around 15 feet at the second, seventh, ninth and 10th and a missed a seven footer for another birdie at the 143-yard 11th.

Despite those misses, he ended his day tied for eighth on seven-under, just three shots behind last week's Wyndham Championship winner Glover, who added a 64 to his opening 68 to lead by a shot on 10-under from overnight leader Jordan Spieth (68).

Sungjae Im (65), Taylor Moore (66), Tommy Fleetwood (66), Emiliano Grillo (67) and Tom Kim (68) were tied for third on eight-under.

But while FedExCup leader Jon Rahm holed a bunker shot for par at the last for a 67, he was projected to fall back to second in the standings behind world number one Scottie Scheffler, who is tied for eighth with McIlroy after a 66.

It was also a frustrating day for Seamus Power, who struggled from tee to green and carded a three-over 73 that left him tied 66th in the 70-man field on four-over.

He was one-under through eight holes but double bogeyed the 18th, his ninth, after a drive into the water; then made another double bogey at the188-yard fourth after another tugged tee shot into a lake.

While he birdied the tough fifth, he bogeyed the eighth and was projected to fall from 29th to 38th in the FedExCup standings with only top 50 in the points list qualifying for next week's BMW Championship at Olympia Fields in Chicago.

McIlroy was projected to fall one spot to fourth behind Scheffler, Rahm and Glover.